Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon: Regal Grass and Passionate Flames
by Nox Calyx
Summary: Over many years, several crises have occurred all over the Pokemon world, and every time, they were all stopped. But now, Clyde, a former human turned into a Snivy, and a Torchic with dreams of joining the Expedition Society, are dragged into another crisis, Pokemon turning into stone. Will they be able to save the world and restore its balance, as it has been before? (HALTED)
1. An Arrival to the Pokémon World!

**Author's Note: So... My first fanfiction would be based on this game. Who would've thought?**

 **Would you believe I found about these games two months ago?**

 **Well.. This is going to be a challenge. Never played the games but still want to write something. 'Why?' You ask. It's that kind of feeling you get when you want to put your own story until you can't take it anymore. The desire consumed me within the past few weeks until I had to at least try to type out something because of how much I love this game.**

 **I also want to thank the people who inspired me to do this. Ikcacther for writing the most popular (at least to my knowledge) PSMD fanfiction and Marriland for his let's play of the game.**

 **Please Review and Comment! Favorite/Follow if you are interested and want to see more! Guest reviews are welcome! Don't be shy!**

 **Disclaimer: Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon is owned by Spike Chunsoft and The Pokemon Company.**

* * *

Finally!

I finally found you!

An evil threat looms over our world!

Please come… and lend us your strength!

Then, it is time for us to go…

To the world where Pokémon wait!

* * *

All life in this world…

Is said to have been born from the same source.

The sun and stars… the skies and the seas… and even Pokémon…

Are all bound together as one.

* * *

A meteor passes through the emptiness of space, flying close by to the earth's orbit. And with it comes Deoxys, grabbing on to it as the meteor sped by. He released his grasp on the space object, flying in the direction of the giant planet. But he catches a glimpse of green speeding towards him, forcing him to halt.

"Is that…?!"

A large green snake roared as he drew near. It came in so fast that it barely gave him the time to dodge to the right as it came towards him. As he recovers from his sudden movement, he turns around to realize what, or rather who, passed him.

"Is that the Legendary…Rayquaza?" he questioned to himself. "I heard of it before, but this is my first encounter with it. It's every bit as intimidating as I'd heard."

He sees Rayquaza disappear above him, but he realizes how high up he is to the planet.

"But…I thought it inhabited the ozone layer…Why has it come past the stratosphere?" He turns around to look upon the earth below him. "Something must be strange afoot…here on this planet…"

* * *

Somewhere on the earth a curious eye is looking through a telescope, attentively eyeing the night sky. He sees something green speed through the air, getting farther away until it is just a small speck in the sea of twinkling stars.

 _Hmm... how curious..._ He said. He took his eye off the optical machine to look around the floor, which is scattered with star charts and drawings, then back to the telescope. _Rayquaza seems to have fled from the planet..._ He took a look at one of the papers lying from the ground.

 _The stars look right where they should be... I guess he wasn't lazy after all._ He looked at his left, eyeing the only other Pokémon in this room, snoring lightly. _But still, I have to clean up this mess... again._ He looked at the mass amount of astronomy-related things strewn around him. _Maybe later... Don't want to get Mr. Sleepyhead over there to toss around._

He turned toward the exit to reach the stairs. _And now this... We need to find something out before this gets any worse._

* * *

"Ugh… Where am I? I feel like someone was calling me…But I'm not sure… What's going on? I can't remember…" A male voice called out. He realizes he can't see anything, and slowly opens his eyes.

What he sees is an abundance of trees around him, showing their green shine. He feels down on the soft ground he is laying on, which is grass. Then he sees the side of a small cliff, seeing a waterfall going into a small spring. He must be in a forest, or something like it.

"Where... am...I…? What is this place?" He tried to stand up, only to be bombarded by a headache, which forced him to sit down upon the grass and rub his head, praying for the pain to stop. "Agh... My head is pounding…" Soon enough, for what it feels like an eternity, he felt the his headache lighten up enough to try think more clearly, only to find out that he can't recall any memories.

"I can't remember anything… But wait, do I know my name?" He concentrated, hoping to remember what his name was. Then it clicked. "So I do still know my name, Clyde… But why can't I remember anything? What's going on here?"

As he was saying this, he felt his lips were dry, and realized he must have dried his mouth out. "Thirsty… I need to drink some water…" Suddenly he looked at the waterfall with the small spring that is produced out of it. He crawled slowly to the edge of the water, only to close his eyes and dump his head in the water, trying to drink it as much as he possibly can.

"Ahh! That's so refreshing! I don't think I've ever tasted better water in my life!" he exclaimed, praising how much he feels alive again. _Woah, I gotta calm down. If I get this excited over water, I'd faint over food_ , he thought.

He took a few deep breaths to calm down his nerves. He looked over to the water, looking at how it saved him from dying from thirst. But at the corner of his eye he sees some sort of reflection looming over the water below him, its image disturbed by the small ripples of water. "Wait… There's something reflecting on the surface…"

He decided to take a closer look at the distorted image. The water started to calm down just enough to see a Pokémon staring right back at him.

"Huh!? A Snivy!? But that's just a reflection! That means…" Clyde looked at his hands to realize that they were small and green. He stared in disbelief as he looked at himself. He had the body of a Snivy, with a tail of leaves, striking red eyes, slender skin and a cream colored underbelly.

"AAAHHHHH! I've turned into a Pokémon!" He screamed out loud. "But it's impossible! I should be a human!" As he said this many new questions flooded his mind. Why? How? When did this happen?

"Beheem!" Came out a mysterious noise loud enough to make the former human to come out of his stupor. He looked to find the source of the noise.

He saw three brown figures headed toward him, floating as they came closer to him. "Beheem!" They rang out before stopping short of the Snivy. They turned to each other and started flickering their lights to each other, communicating in a language he couldn't understand. _What is that?_ He wondered.

Suddenly the three Pokémon turned towards the grass type, and one of them proceeded to charge at him. "Woah!" He yelped out as he backed away from the incoming attack. He stumbled back again as another proceeded to attack. "What's the deal all of a sudden!?" He yelled, hoping for some kind of answer. But the only response what that the floating Pokémon were starting to surround him. _Whoever they are, they're not friendly! I need to get out of here!_

He turned around to run away from the attacking Pokémon into the small path in the forest. He ran as fast as he could, panting along the way. "Somebody… Help!" He screamed into the forest between gasps. He kept running along the path until he saw a figure walking through it. _Over there!_

As he ran closer to the walking figure he saw had a giant leaf on his head, a mask of grey with a pointed nose with short legs. The Snivy proceeded to halt right in front of the figure, panting madly in the process.

"Huh, what's wrong? What are you all in a fuss for?" The Pokémon in front of him spoke in concern. The grass type jumped in surprise, after hearing him speak.

 _Did that Pokémon just talk to me!?_ His mind yelled. The Pokémon in front of him stepped back nervously. "Woah! What did I do to you?! If then I'm mighty sorry!" he said. "I'm Nuzleaf! It's all right now, so just calm down," He tried calming the Snivy down.

"OK…" the grass type said, his mind calming down. _Since I'm a Snivy, I guess I can understand Pokémon!_ He thought.

A faint rustling behind him caught both of their attention as the same three attacking Pokémon caught up with the Snivy. _Oh no! They followed me here?!_ He thought.

The floating Pokemon halted to flicker their hand once more at each other then attacked Clyde again, causing him to jump back and Nuzleaf to step backward in surprise and confusion.

"Woah! What in the world?!" Nuzleaf exclaimed. Another charge cause the both of them to reel back. "Eek! I'm scared!" The both of them turned around and ran deeper into the forest.

They continued to run until they reached an abnormally straight path, which caused Nuzleaf to halt and Clyde to almost slip at the sudden stop. "Why did we stop? They're still after us!"

"It's one of them mystery dungeons up ahead," Nuzleaf replied.

"A mystery dungeon?" Clyde questioned.

Nuzleaf was about to answer his question until a faint "Beheem!" reached the pair's ears. "Ahhh! There ain't no other way to go! Just follow me!" He then proceeded to run into the straight path and Clyde followed suit.

 _Not even five minutes in this world and things are crazy!_ The grass type thought. _I've been turned into a Snivy, and that's weird enough, but being attacked for no reason at all? Well, At least it isn't boring to say the least._

* * *

 **AN: No matter how I can think of it, I can't seem to come up with ideas on the actual dungeons themselves. So don't expect anything detailing exploration until I actually get the game myself. Not too much, anyway. In any case, I'll see you in the next chapter!**


	2. Through the Open Pass!

**AN: Here's another chapter of the story! I had to finish it today because of the franchise's 20th birthday! Let's all sing the happy birthday song together! Wait... is it still copyrighted? It is? Darn it.**

 **In Response to Reviews:**

 **warsofshadows: Thank you for your feedback! The rushed ending you saw in the first chapter is pretty much how it was in the game. Events happen in a way that I'm not that creative enough to think of some way to bypass the pace, if only a little. But I do think the ending felt like what it was in the game, at least for me.**

 **Please Review and Comment! Favorite/Follow if you are interested and want to see more! Guest reviews are welcome! Don't be shy!**

 **Disclaimer: Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon is owned by Spike Chunsoft and the Pokémon Company.**

* * *

Clyde and Nuzleaf kept running deeper in the same direction into the forest, getting into the entrance of the mystery dungeon. They felt really exhausted and wanted to stop and take a break, with Nuzleaf looking around him for any sign of the Pokémon chasing them.

"All right then, it seems like they are long gone from us for now," he said. Clyde decide to sit down on the ground right after hearing those words.

He took advantage at his moment of reprieve and took a look around the new area they had entered. It was full of trees packed against each other, making it seemingly impossible to see through them. It's even hard to see above the trees despite the fact they were still short, considering his size compared to them. He saw Nuzleaf carrying what seems to be a bag strapped around on his shoulder. He looked at the path in front of him, which led deeper into the woods. He turned around, expecting another path that led them here, but only to find nothing.

"Huh? Where did the entrance go?" He asked Nuzleaf.

"It seems we're in Open Pass already," He answered, "The missing entrance is one of the things that make Mystery Dungeons, well, Mystery Dungeons. Every time you go into one, it'll have a different layout and items in it. And all the Pokémon 'round here seem mighty on edge-attackin' for no reason!"

Clyde listened attentively, trying to catch all of the new information Nuzleaf gave to him. "That seems bad. What do we do?"

"You saw that the entrance disappeared when we came here. Our only hope of movin' ahead is wantin' find the stairs. Watch out for enemy Pokémon while you keep one eye open for the stairs." He moved to where the path is going, then turned towards the grass type. "I'll take the lead, since you seem new to this, but you stick to me like a bad stain, got it?"

"Got it!" Clyde nodded. With that he stood up, getting close to him.

"Right. Then let's move!"

They both started traversing through the clearing, walking through a corridor of cleared plants with the rest of them side by side. Clyde kept close to Nuzleaf, not wanting to get left behind. _If Mystery Dungeons have these pathways to go through, it'll be tough if one decided to attack us here_ , he thought.

The pair kept walking until they came across another room, which contained a Pokémon resting near the center. Its orange shell with mushrooms growing on the top of it were facing them with its eyes closed.

Nuzleaf turned towards Clyde "A Paras," he whispered. "It's just asleep now, but if it rouses itself, it'll surely be lookin' to rough us up! We have to strike it as hard as we can to beat it!"

He turned towards the sleeping bug type. "Stay put. I reckon I'll take this one, so you watch close." He silently walked closer to the Paras. When he got close, the Paras realized his presence and woke up. But before being able to do anything, Nuzleaf strikes at the Paras with a feint attack, causing it to be knocked out instantly.

 _Woah! In one hit?!_ Clyde stared in amazement _._ _He must be really strong!_

"Let's get a move on," Nuzleaf beckoned to the Snivy. They both went down another corridor until they reached the next room, which also contained a sleeping Pokémon.

"Dagnabbit! A Doduo! It's time you tried to handle yourself, young friend. I'll keep an eye out. Creep right on up till your jus' one step away from it, then strike as hard as you can." Clyde nodded as he went towards the sleeping bird.

 _But wait. Do I even know how to use moves?_ As he thought of this he paused his movement. _I might as well try_. With the little boost in confidence, he stepped forward, causing the Doduo to wake up.

"Now!"

Clyde didn't think as two vines came out of the side of his neck and hit the Doduo in surprise, causing it to reel back. The flying type ran forward, trying to tackle him, but he launched out another Vine Whip, knocking it out. Nuzleaf gave a thumb-up to congratulate him. "That's the ticket! That's how you use your moves to battle off these ornery folks. But use you move too much, and you'll run out of energy for that attack sooner or later. Then you got no choice to just swing at it."

 _So every attack needs to be used with foresight and effectiveness. Right._ Clyde thought. But, why did it feel so familiar doing so, like he had done this move for a long time? He decided to not question it. They still needed to find the stairs.

They continued through the floor to find another room, but instead of an enemy Pokémon unlike the last two rooms, what Clyde found is a blue berry on the grass out in the open. He didn't know why, but the shape and color of the object made him realize what the object is.

"Nuzleaf, look. It looks like an Oran Berry." Clyde pointed out to the oval fruit.

"Great! These Oran Berries are very helpful. Eat one and it will heal you in a pinch! Go ahead, pick it up." Nuzleaf said. Clyde walked over to the Oran Berry and picked it up with his small arms. "Now give it to me, I know where to put it so we can use it later." The grass type obeyed and hand the berry over to Nuzleaf, who proceeded to put it in his bag.

They kept walking through a third corridor until they both saw a brown square in the ground, with steps leading down to another part of the forest.

"Hot diggity! I reckon we found the stairs." Nuzleaf exclaimed in excitement. "Stairs like these are the ticket to makin' your way through mystery dungeons. So let's go!" The pair went down the flight of stairs, continuing on to the second floor.

The second that they stepped on the ground at the bottom of the stairs, Clyde noticed that the terrain of the dungeon still looked the same. _What? The sun is still above us, and I'm sure that the ground that's supposed to be above us didn't disappear just as we reached the bottom of the stairs. I don't get it, but we have to keep moving. Those Pokémon are still after us._

Nuzleaf went and turned in different directions, looking at the open pathways in the room. He had a worried look that the grass type noticed.

"Something wrong…?" He asked.

"Well, do you reckon they're still following us? I can't help but be bothered by it." Nuzleaf replied.

"I think we might have lost them, but I can't say for sure. It's best if we keep moving."

"Right. Why don't you take the lead this time? I'll be keepin' an eye out behind us. On you go."

Clyde walked forward, navigating through the floor with the other grass type following behind him. With Nuzleaf, he was able to take out the Shroomish and Woobat standing in the way with his Vine Whip and Nuzleaf's Feint Attack.

After wandering around the floor for around a few minutes trying to find the stairs, a flying Pokémon with brown feathers and red eyes swooped preparing his Vine Whip the Hoothoot growled loudly at the grass type, which intimated him, and struck the enemy Pokémon with less force with his whip. _What? How did that make me hit it less than it should have?_ His thought distracted him for enough time for the Hoothoot to strike him with its beak, causing him to be knocked back by the sudden blow. Before any more damage can be done, Nuzleaf ran towards the Hoothoot with a Feint Attack, knocking it out.

"Are you all right?" He helped the Snivy up.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Clyde answered. "But how did that Hoothoot made me soften my attack?"

"It used Growl, a move that lower's that target's attack. We need to get you to a Wonder Tile as soon as we can."

"A Wonder Tile?"

"It's a tile that resets your stats, such as attack, defense, and speed. They are mighty useful if you are affected by a move that lowers your stats, but they reset buffs to your stats, as well."

"Then we need to find one. I feel a little stiff."

Lucky enough they did not encounter any wild Pokémon and reached a room with a yellow tile with glowing green markings, making it look like a target.

"There's one! Now all you need to do is stand on it."

Clyde stepped forward on the Wonder Tile. The reaction was immediate as his slight stiffness was gone, making him feel less restricted in his movements.

They continued on and in a few moments Clyde can see a bright opening through the trees. "Nuzleaf! I see some sort of opening! Is this it?"

Nuzleaf turned in the direction where Clyde pointed and saw the opening as well. "It sure is! Come on!" They both ran off into the exit, leading out of Open Pass.

* * *

Nuzleaf was panting from exhaustion as they both stopped running in a small clearing. "I'm a-struggling…I reckon we should have us a little break…"

"Agreed." Clyde was aching from all the running they were doing just to get away from the Pokemon after them as much as possible. The both looked back at the path they ran through.

"Them fellers that attacked us all of a sudden… They're a kind of Pokémon called Beheeyem, I do believe…"

 _So that's what they're called._ Clyde turned around at Nuzleaf, only to find the look of his angry face. "What are the followin' you for? Did you cause them some kind of trouble?"

The sudden outburst caused the grass type to step backward in fear. "What?! I didn't do anything!"

Nuzleaf ignored his response and yelled, "Why, yer childish pranks even got me caught up in yer mess, I reckon!"

 _Childish pranks? Do I look like a child or something to the Pokémon in this world?_ He thought. "I'm really sorry that you got dragged into this, but I don't know why they attacked me in the first place!"

"Hm? You reckon you don't know why they were attacking you?"

"Of course! I also don't have any memories other than what happened at the waterfall."

"What? You have no memory?" Nuzleaf crossed his arms. "Do you know yer name at least?"

"I do. I should have told you while we were in the mystery dungeon. My name's Clyde."

"Clyde, huh? Well, do you remember anything else?"

"Well, yeah. I remember that I was once a human. But anything else I can remember, nothing's ringing any bells." Clyde continued.

Nuzleaf looked dee in thought, "So, you say you ain't even a Pokémon at all, but a human? That's all you reckon you remember?" Clyde nodded in response. Suddenly Nuzleaf opened his eyes and jumped at the realization of the words he said. "Wait… What?! A-a-a human?!"

 _Flicker flicker flicker…_

The pair turned in the direction of the sound. The saw faint lights in the distance. _Those lights… it must be them! How fast are they?!_

"I reckon that's the light from the Beheeyem!" Nuzleaf said in a panic. "I reckon we oughta get runnin'!"

They both dashed off in the opposite direction of the light into another straight corridor.

 _We must be headed into another mystery dungeon!_

* * *

 **AN: I had a lot of determination to finish this chapter, and now my typing hands are tingly due to the cold air here.**

 **So here's my question of the day. What 7th Gen. game will you be getting? Pokémon Sun or Pokémon Moon and why? I'll be getting the Moon version, if you're wondering.**

 **Anyways, see you in the next chapter!**


	3. Making a New Acquaintance

**AN: I'm SO SO sorry for not updating for about a week, my fellow readers. I _really_ hate being sick on school days. All the homework you have to make up. Ugh...**

 **Anyway I've got another chapter for you guys as a result of my determination to continue this story for you guys. But first...**

 **In response to reviews:**

 **warsofshadows: I know that the other mystery dungeon fanfiction on the site have a more real-life style to it, but never have I seen a well known one that doesn't address some logical inconsistencies, or at least that I have really noticed to remember. But it's all just first observations, so you won't see much more as the story continues, or at least be so blatant about it.**

 **MarioandLuigiThePaperJamBros: And you will get more! I promise you that!**

 **Please Review and Comment! Favorite/Follow if you are interested and want to see more! Guest reviews are welcome! Don't be shy!**

 **Disclaimer: Pokémon Super Mystery dungeon is owned by Spike Chunsoft and the Pokémon Company.**

* * *

"We've gotta get away from these fellers, and fast…" Nuzleaf said between gasps. "But rushin' headlong 'round here'll likely land us in a whole other heap of trouble."

"Right." Clyde looked around him saw that that the layout of the place had unnatural terrain, just like Open Pass. "This must be another mystery dungeon. What's this place called?"

"This is Lush Forest. Before we move on, the first thing that you need to remember is that you need to keep you guard up at all times. The wild Pokémon here are restless and rough anyone up if anyone else trespasses its territory. You have to think carefully and use your moves wisely. Got it?"

"Got it!" Clyde nodded as Nuzleaf led the pair through the only path in the room and saw a Seviper with its back behind them.

"Hot diggity! Another enemy Pokemon!" Nuzleaf whispered to the grass type. "But no need to panic… in these situations you have to stay put and let the enemy come towards you." The poison type became aware of their presence and turned around to charge toward them. Nuzleaf prepared himself as he let the snake come closer to him. As soon as the Seviper came in range of Nuzleaf's arms he used Feint Attack, knocking it out. He continued to lead Clyde down several more paths before they were in the presence of the large horns and brown fur of a Bouffalant.

"Phew... You used to runnin' into all these here enemy Pokémon yet?"

"Well... a little bit."

"Good. Now go ahead and try takin' on that there enemy Pokémon yourself then? Be patient and let it come toward you and hit it when it's close enough." Clyde stood in front of the Bouffalant, readying his Vine Whip. The normal type charged at him quickly, but before it managed to get close enough to get any sort of hit on Clyde, he hit it hard with his whips, knocking it out.

"That's the ticket!" Nuzleaf congratulated the grass type.

"Thanks." Clyde replied.

They both proceeded to head into the next room, which had two paths leading out of it.

"Looks like we got us two ways out of this here room. Can't say why… But I'd bet my life on them stairs bein' on the upper path!" Nuzleaf said with confidence

"If you say so."

Clyde led the pair walked through the path that Nuzleaf mentioned, only to find a dead end.

"I think we're at a dead end, Nuzleaf."

"Huh... Sorry. I reckon my gut led me wrong. Guess there's nothing to do 'cept head back."

Clyde turned around to see that there is not enough space to go around Nuzleaf.

"Whoo! Well, you can just push your way through, if you like… but you can slide on by, too."

"Yeah. Just pushing others around in these corridors would be just plain rude, wouldn't it?" Clyde replied.

And as such they managed to slide by each other in the corridor, switching places in the process.

"I reckon you've got it! Switchin' places is mighty helpful when you and your teammates are going around corridors without exhausting themselves pushing each other around. Now let's keep going. We don't want those Beheeyem catchin' up to us."

Clyde led them both out to go into the next path, wandering deeper in the dungeon.

* * *

"Yah!" Clyde yelled as he struck another wild Pokemon with his vine whips to knock it out instantly. The more he used his vine whips, he realized, that he manages to hit a little bit harder as he got used to his new body _._ It's not much to make battles any easier, but he noticed it was there.

"Over there! Behind you!" Nuzleaf shouted. The grass type obeyed and turned around see a Glameow extending its claw towards him. Clyde was pushed back by the attack, in which he retaliated by hitting it with Vine Whip yet again on the enemy Pokemon.

"Whew, using these whips so much is making me exhausted," Clyde panted. His extended weapons were aching and starting to become tired. _If this keeps up I'm sure to exhaust myself to unconsciousness._

"Here, maybe you can drink one of these Elixirs." Nuzleaf rummaged through his bag and took out a jar that they had found in the floor above, and he twisted it open and handed it over to the grass type.

Clyde drank the contents of the jar, slightly surprised at the little bit of bitterness reaching his taste buds. As he emptied what's left from inside the Elixir, the jar seemed to disappear in his leafy hands. "Woah." He suddenly felt much more rejuvenated as he took out his vine whips and began swinging them with more energy, and he stared at them with a small look of amazement on his face.

"Amazed?" Nuzleaf asked. The grass type nodded in reply. "These here Elixirs are what you need in case you exhaust yourself in case you use your moves too much. I only gave you a regular Elixir, which only restores some amount of your energy. Now Max Elixirs, on the other hand, fill you up completely with energy."

"Ooh... that's sure to be something rare."

"Sure is. Only came across a dozen of them in a span of a few months. Findin' these things are especially useful in long dungeons. Fortunately I reckon Lush Forest to be about four floors, give or take."

"Yeah speaking of which, aren't we on the fourth floor already?" Clyde asked, counting the amount of flights of stairs in his mind.

"Now that you mention it, I reckon we are. We must be close to the exit. Let's hurry!"

Not much later, they found another flight of stairs, and they rushed towards it, hoping that it would lead to the exit. They ran down the flight of stairs, and they saw that they were in another open clearing, free from the mystery' dungeon's weird geography. But that didn't relax them much as they kept running, determined to get away from the Beheeyem.

* * *

They continued to run away from the second mystery dungeon they had encountered back-to-back for what seems to be an eternity, with Clyde barely keeping his running speed with Nuzleaf. _Are we going to do this every time we leave a mystery dungeon?_ Soon enough, they were too exhausted to even walk anymore so they stopped right where they are.

"I… think… we done lost them Beheyeem…" Nuzleaf said between gasps.

"Yeah… I think so too…" the grass type nodded in response, trying to catch his breath.

"Whoo-ee! I sure am beat!" Nuzleaf sat on the grass below him, taking deep breaths to gain some of his energy back. He put his hands into the bag, trying to reach his desired item. "Have an apple, I reckon you must have not eaten since we started runnin' away from them troublemakers." He took out two shiny, fresh apples from his bag and tossed one of them towards Clyde, who caught it with his hands.

"Thank you." He said, thankful for the adult's kindness. He brought it closer to his mouth and eagerly took a bite out of the fruit. The next thing he knew he was holding an apple core, all of its original contents gone. _That was delicious!_ He thought.

The pair took a minute to regain their composure from their quick meal. Nuzleaf stood up and looked at the child before him. "Consarn it…" he sighed and looked at the ground. "You sure did drag me into a fine mess. And me havin' nothin' to do with any of it. But… I reckon I could forgive you this one time, us bein' all right and all."

"Yeah. Sorry for that." Clyde apologized.

Nuzleaf turned around, faing towards the path ahead of them. "Well, adios, friend. I'll be headin' on home now."

 _What?! He's just going to leave me behind?!_ Was the immediate thought Clyde's mind came up with. "I reckon you oughta be careful on your way home, too." Nuzleaf started to walk away from the child, but stopped as he realized something. "Ah. But then you carried on about yourself bein' a human or some such?"

"Yes." Clyde replied.

"Hmm… So that'd make you from the human world." Nuzleaf deducted. The grass type nodded in reply. "Gee… That sure is a hard pillow to swallow, all right… But supposin' I did believe you… Then what in the world are you fixin' to do now?" He asked.

Clyde could only respond by tilting his head, surprised as he heard the adult's question. What _was_ he supposed to do? He still had not gotten completely over the fact that he was turned into a Pokémon. And for what purpose? He couldn't think of an answer.

"Got no idea, huh?" Nuzleaf crossed his arms. "Hardly a surprise. Well, I can't pay no nevermind as to where you're fixin' to sleep tonight. You might better go you find someplace." He turned away from the grass type. "Good luck to you friend. Fare thee well." He started to walk away again. Every step he took only increased Clyde's fear of being left alone.

"Wait! Please don't leave me here! I don't know where to go!" He called out, with a look of fear in his eyes. Nuzleaf stopped walking any further away from the grass and turned towards him, looking at his expression. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the child, and felt guilty for starting to leave him alone. He ran back to Clyde, now wearing a sympathetic face.

"Ah, consarn it all! Don't go lookin' at me with them baby-doll eyes! Why, them Beheeyem might come along an' attack again at any moment. I can't hardly leave no child here all alone in such conditions, no sir. I calculate I'm plumb outta options," He held out his hand. "You could come to my place, if you'd like," he offered.

"Yes!" Clyde answered loudly, not thinking of the answer before it came out his mouth. Why wouldn't he reject an offer like this?

"Really? I reckon we oughta get movin'!" Nuzleaf said cheerfully, beckoning to the child. Clyde eagerly went near him, ready to follow him to his home.

"My village is just over yonder. Now, it is a fair bit of a walk, so I reckon you might better stick real close to me and don't go getting' lost!"

"Yes, sir!"

Clyde and Nuzleaf headed together down through the forest, starting to head to Nuzleaf's village.

 _Was I lucky enough to have him around!_

* * *

 **Looks like Clyde's got a new acquaintance to be with! And Nuzleaf's kind enough for him to let him stay in his new home. How nice of him!**

 **Believe it or not, I literally had to write my own thoughts on the story, what its based on, and my plans on it on _actual paper_ when I was not typing it on the computer, so it can help me continue this story. Maybe I'll post it because all I could think about is how ridiculous to think about writing about it in the first place and to see how my mind can be sometimes.**

 **Here's something I would like to do. I will try to update once a week as best to my ability with all the spare time that I have, so that I don't have to feel bad about myself for stopping typing. I am also considering to put music suggestions for boss fights and other events in the story.**

 **And here's my question for you guys. Do you think that Gates to Infinity is _that_ bad as many fans of the franchise says it is? My opinion is that it's not a great game, but its certainly deserves something higher than a 5/10, at least that's what I think. I would like to know your take on the matter.**

 **Anyways, see you in the next chapter!**


	4. A Bumpy Introduction

**AN: Hey guys! I'm here for another chapter for you all! And guess what? 150+ views! *Throws a small pack confetti across the floor* Now I know this may be a small number to you guys, but it's big to me because more than a few people are reading this story, and I am very thankful for that. As a bit of a reward, this is my longest chapter I have written yet! But before we move on...**

 **In Response to Reviews:**

 **Cottonmuth25: It's great to see that somebody thinks that my work is good. But this isn't the only good PSMD fanfiction I've seen. Check out Here Comes the Hydroflames by Ikcatcher. His story is good to see and is my inspiration for writing this story.**

 **warsofshadows: Very interesting question. But adding names to Pokemon that you already know by name feels like it lessen the value of their presence at least to me, and it's hard to associate names with Pokemon because of all that you have to read. I'd have to make like a dozen different names at the very least, and that's for characters that have a sizable time of appearance.**

 **Ikcatcher: Don't worry. It'll just be Clyde learning the basics and then some is where I will put segments for dungeons, and I plan for it to become less detailed as time goes on, and maybe I'll put segments in story events.**

 **Please Review and Comment! Favorite/Follow if you are interested and want to see more! Guest reviews are welcome! Don't be shy!**

 **Disclaimer: Pokémon Super Mystery dungeon is owned by Spike Chunsoft and the Pokémon Company.**

* * *

The pair has been travelling for a couple days, traversing through many valleys and steep hills, hiking through thick forests, walking through plains of tall grass, and only stopping to rest under the night sky. During this amount of time, Clyde and Nuzleaf bonded on their journey, gaining more of each other's trust as they went along. But even though as they traveled, Clyde still hasn't gotten completely over the fact that he was turned into a Pokémon. He accepted the fact that he is one, but he needed an answer to why he was turned into one. Maybe it was a mistake, an accident, or something else entirely.

Nuzleaf couldn't help but take notice the child's face. "Is somethin' bothering you?" He asked. "You've had that face for about an hour now. Is there anything you'd like to tell me?"

"Well, it's just that I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing here. Being turned into a Pokémon, getting attacked for no reason, and me having no memory of my past life. It's getting to my head." Clyde replied.

"Well, I reckon I don't know why you were turned into a Pokémon, nor do I have the faintest idea why them Beheeyem up and attacked you. The best advice I can give you is jus' to make the best of it." Nuzleaf said.

"So, I guess I have to find the answer on my own then, huh?" Clyde sighed.

"I wouldn't say that. You've got me protectin' you, right?"

"Yeah. Thanks for letting me be here with you. You've been very nice to me for the past couple of days. I'm glad that I came across you when I was attacked by those Beheeyem."

"Aw shucks, kid, you're makin' me blush. I appreciate it." Nuzleaf rubbed the back of his head, expressing his modesty.

They continued to hike for a few hours, getting closer to Nuzleaf's village. The hills were getting noticeably steeper, but there was a noticeable path in the grass, making a more clear indication to where the village is.

"Are we almost there?" Clyde asked.

"Almost there. The path is getting clearer as we move along. I reckon it shouldn't take long now." Nuzleaf replied.

After a few minutes of following the winding path up a hill, they found themselves on a hilltop, overlooking the ground below. In the far distance Clyde can make out from what seems to be a few structures located across a huge lake with a small hill on the opposite side with a huge tree standing on top of it. There was a path on the left of the lake that led into the village. To the right there was a singular mountain, perfectly clear of trees and covered mostly by grass. The sun's light was reflecting off the blue body of water, making it shine. Clyde couldn't have been more amazed by the sight.

"Wow… It looks so beautiful from up here." The grass type stared in wonder.

"It sure is. That there little village near the shore of the lake is where I live."

"What's the village called?"

"Serene Village." Nuzleaf responded. "We're nearly there now! I reckon we should push on!" The pair continued on the clear path for around 20 minutes, walking through the small patch of forest that stood between them and the village. Soon enough they were walking towards the giant tree on the hill.

"That there tree is the biggest we have in our village, perhaps the whole continent. It's said that the founder of our village planted that tree over on that hill as an icon of sorts, something to make our humble abode special." Nuzleaf explained.

"Wow. It certainly does look pretty." Clyde looked at the magnificent size and beauty of the tree. It had a thick trunk, with many branches spreading out, with its huge amount of leaves growing out of them. It made for a small space of shade on the top of the small hill. Nuzleaf chuckled at the grass type's amazement.

"Now, are you going to keep gawkin' at that tree, or do you want me to drag you to my house?" The adult joked. Clyde took his attention off the giant plant and they proceeded to continue on into the village.

They continued to walk through the main path to Serene Village, and from what Clyde can see, it certainly lived up to its name. It sounded relatively peaceful, with only the sound of the lake's waves hitting gently against the shore and the conversations heard by other Pokémon quite a distance away from the pair. Soon enough they were approaching a house with a giant leaf on the roof.

"Welcome to my humble abode," Nuzleaf opened the door to his house. "Come in, make yourself comfortable." He stepped inside, motioning for the child to come in. Clyde took a step forward to the door, but suddenly got a chill up his spine, feeling a sort of presence behind him. He quickly glanced back outside, hoping he wasn't crazy for feeling that.

"What's the matter?" Nuzleaf looked at the grass type in concern. "Somethin' behind you?"

Clyde could only see a couple of homes and grass in front of him. "No, it's nothing." He replied. _Strange. I thought someone was looking at me, even for just a second…_ He decided not to dwell on the thought any longer and looked around the inside of Nuzleaf's house.

It looked like the house was built with the nature feel in mind. It had thick branches near the ceiling, with a couple of leaves growing on it. The floor had the rings of what the actual inside of a tree would look like, rings and all. A tree branch archway was to the right, leading to another room. There was a potted plant on a stump, a cauldron of water, and a few logs placed in the room. It reflected Nuzleaf's personality quite well. Humble, nice, and simple.

"This way," Nuzleaf led the child over to the other room. "Here you are. You can bunk down in this room for now. It may not be much, but take it as you will. And, well… as for the rest of it… What do you reckon you're gonna do?"

"Hmm… I still don't know." The child replied. Although he did become acquainted with this world, there are still many things that he didn't know, and that worried him. And with those Beheeyem after him, without remembering anything about his past life, it only added to the list of things he has to worry about.

"You're still worried, huh?" Clyde nodded in agreement. "Them Beheeyem… I can't help wonderin' why they were comin' after you like that," Nuzleaf crossed his arms. "But all the wonderin' in the world won't give me nothin' but a headache." Suddenly, an idea pooped in his head. "We could get us some answers if an' when your memory ever comes back. But until then, you can jus' stay here. Sound good?"

Clyde nodded again. "I wouldn't tell the other folks in the village about them Beheeyem, though. Might scare 'em off."

"Agreed." The grass type said.

"And… lessee…" Nuzleaf looked at the child. "That's right. You're about school age from the looks of you, so I reckon I should get you enrolled at the village school."

"Why?" Clyde questioned.

"People'll wonder about you bein' a new arrival to this village, an' they'll wonder even more if you aren't going to school at your age. So let's just agree that you'll go to school for the time bein', all right?"

"Well, it does help not being too conspicuous around others. So yeah, I'll go to school."

"Then it's settled. I reckon I'll go an' get that all took care of right away. So don't you stick one toe outside this house till I get back, you hear?"

"Of course." Clyde nodded.

Nuzleaf started to walk back to the entrance of the house, only to stop under the archway and turn back at the child.

"You hear? You're not to go outside. Not even by mistake or nothin'!" He said sternly.

"Yes, sir!" Clyde responded. He saw Nuzleaf disappear to the left and heard the noise of a door opening and closing, leaving him the only one in the house. He decided to walk back into the main room and saw Nuzleaf's bag perched on the table tree trunk. _Huh. He must've left it when I wasn't looking._

He proceeded to put the bag on his shoulder out of curiosity. The shoulder strap felt somewhat snug on his crest and gave him a small sense of excitement. _I might wear this for a bit. I'm sure Nuzleaf won't mind it._

Suddenly he heard some sort of tapping noise in the secondary room, and he went there to investigate. Only to find nothing out of the ordinary inside. _Huh, guess it must be outside then._

He looked out the window to see what made that mysterious noise, only to be met by a huge, dark shadow casting through the window. He yelled out and his body slipped and fell on the wooden floor.

"Ow…" He groaned. But his pain was switched with panic as he looked back at the window to see the shadow has left. _It couldn't be those Beheeyem, could they?!_ He heard the crunching of leaves from outside and he stood up quickly. _Wait… Don't Beheeyem float?_ He started to head towards the door. _If then, who could it be?_

He stepped out of the house, looking around cautiously. All he could see was no one but himself.

 _Am I just crazy?_ He thought. He was sure the shadow he saw and the noises he heard was definitely real. _But still, I can't keep my guard down. If I'm not careful, then-_

"I knew it!"

"Gah!" The grass snake jumped back at the feminine voice and turned to who yelled at him. What he saw was another Pokémon, as tall as himself, but with orange feathers, talons for feet, a beak, and beady black eyes. For some reason, he immediately recognized who that Pokémon was.

"A Torchic?" He asked aloud.

"Yup! In the flesh!" the fire type said proudly. "I knew my eyes weren't playing tricks on me! I totally say you go inside with Mr. Nuzleaf just now! Where are you from? What's your name?"

Clyde could only respond by a small, worried smile. That's too many questions to answer at such a short time. "Er, well my name is-"

"I'm Ruby!" the Torchic interrupted. "I live right nearby, with my old pops!" She pointed with her beak at the house she was referring to. "That house right there!"

Clyde turned at her direction, looking at the blue-decorated house nearby. "Well, it does look ni-"

"So where are you from?" Ruby asked again. "You're not SERIOUSLY Mr. Nuzleaf's kid or anything are you? Like that could ever happen! Ha ha ha ha ha!"

"Well, no I-" The grass type tried to speak out, but was cut off again.

"Oh right! But this is your first time here, isn't it?"

"Yes, but-"

"Well in that case, I'll show you around the place! Come on!" The fire type proceeded to push Clyde down the hill.

"H-hey! Stop that!" he cried out, but his pleas were ignored as Ruby continued to push him without hesitation.

"What did you say your name was?" she asked, clearly not having heard of Clyde's complaint. "Or- wait. Did I ask you that already? I didn't ask you, did I?"

"Well, my name is Clyde." The grass type responded. _Well, that's one question out of the way._

"I see! Clyde, huh? That's a great name for a Snivy! Sounds very smooth." Ruby dragged him near the center of the plaza. "Sorry about that! I went and asked and never even gave you a chance to answer!" She apologized. She looked intently at the Clyde's face, trying to read his facial expression.

"Hmm? Am I annoying?" She asked. "I know that face when I see one! You're totally thinking about how annoying I am right now, yeah?"

But Clyde's mind was not full of annoyance, just pure surprise and confusion. _She gets way too excited for her own good._ He thought. _If this continues, I'll get tired from her energy._

"Well quit it! Sheesh!" Ruby said excitedly. "Gimme a break, you big Miltank! Heh? See what I did there? A little joke? With the Miltank?" She luahged at her own joke, while Clyde could only smile nervously.

"Which leads us to…" Ruby spun around to the center of the plaza. "Ta-daaa! Here she is! Serene Village. And her heart is this plaza here." Clyde looke around the village plaza, and saw important looking buildings such as a shopkeep with the stand as the shape of a Kecleon, another stand shaped as a Hawlucha, and a big building made out of brick. All of it formed a circular-like shape around the small patch of grass at the center.

"It may not look like much, but we've got the most basic facilities over here." Ruby pointed at a strange, fancy looking metal box to the right of Kecleon's shop. "Over there you've got your Deposit Box."

"Deposit Box?" Clyde asked.

"It's a place to store your items and such and take 'em out again later. How it works has always been a mystery. It always opens up to those who access and it has the items that Pokemon left inside only to them."

"Seems useful," Clyde stated.

"Over to the left is a Kecleon shop. All sorts of useful items are sold everyday there. And every day there's a different stock, so it's best to check there each day to see what's there."

"I'll take note of that."

"It's probably too much to take in all at once, so… I'll tell you about each facility in turn!" She gladly said. "Let's see, to start with, we've got-"

"There you are! Ruby!" an angry voice interrupted her. The pair turned to see who said that.

"Eep! Lombre!" Ruby said in shock.

"So this is where you've been!" Lombre yelled angrily. "You're the one who tramped through my lotus pond, aren't you?!"

"I-it… it w-wasn't like that!" the fire type responded, showing her worry. "I was just trying to have a little adventure!" She started to run away from the persuing water type, but stopped dead in her tracks by another Pokémon standing in her way.

"Ruby! Stop! Right! Zere!"

"Gah! And Hippopotas!"

"You! You are ze one that vent into my cave, aren't you?!" The Hippopatas hollered in rage. "And vat's more! You took ze treasure I had hidden inside, didn't you?!"

"N-no… I was just exploring a dungeon, and I happened to… uh…" Ruby tried making an excuse to save her from this predicament. "Well, you know how it is! You gotta have a reward after clearing a dungeon, right?"

Clyde could only watch the spectacle happening right in front of him. _So she gets a lot of attention in this village, and not the good kind either, huh?_

Ruby turned to the right to try to run away again, but was stopped yet again by another Pokemon.

"Stop right there, Mishcief!" A gruff voice came from the blue turtle.

"P-Pops?!" The avian suddenly said in fear, recognizing who was in front of her.

"Oh! Ol' man Carracosta!" Lombre said.

Carracosta stepped closer to Ruby. "So this is where you've been loitering, child? What about your chores back home, eh? Playing hooky again to wander around, eh?"

"No, Pops! I have a real reason this time!"

"And I know you've been snacking on the Oran Berries from my field again!" Carracosta ignored Ruby's statement.

"I have not!"

"You have!"

"Have not!"

"I want the truth from you child!"

"Yeah, I did eat them. They were delicious!" Ruby smiled as she admitted to her crime.

Clyde jaw hung open as she said that. She just admitted what she did out loud. _And to say it in such a cheerful way, too_.

"Hey! I see Ruby over there!" One of the villagers yelled from a distance. "Everybody! Ruby's been sighted!"

"Gahhhhhh!" the fire type yelped in a panic. She turned around and sarted off as quickly as she could.

"Don't you dare run! We'll catch you!" Carracosta called out to the fleeing Torchic.

"We're coming for you!" Many of the villagers yelled out in unison. There was a small group of Pokémon chasing after Ruby, and they were coming straight at Clyde. He barely got out of the way and looked back at the running group.

 _Okay, I take back that statement about this village living up to its name. This is_ not _serene at all._

* * *

 **Now I know what you're thinking. Why isn't the partner named Bonnie? On second thought, why _didn't_ I name her Bonnie? The main reason would be that it would not represent what the names are based on well enough. Sure, they're great partners but to me its not enough to make the full connection. And that a Torchic named Bonnie sounds very weird to me for some reason.**

 **Anyway enough about the story for now and lets talk about movies. I recently saw Zootopia and oh boy, it was FANTASTIC! It's all I have to say about it due to me saying anything that would influence your expectations. So I recommend you go see it! And also I have a new ship coming from that movie. Maybe I'll write something... Eh, probably not. But enough about me and I want to know your thoughts about the movie if you have seen it already. Is it good? Bad? You tell me!**

 **Anyways, see you in the next chapter!**


	5. A Request to Rescue

**AN: Hello, my fellow readers! Spring Break is on the horizon, and it's the perfect time to relax in the comfort of the outside! *opens the window to see 35mph wind blasting through* Okay, then. Maybe I'll just stay in here and hope the weather clears up soon. On a side note I've been looking at the view count and it's so close to 200 that my OCD's kicking in. Anyway...**

 **In Response to Reviews:**

 **MarioandLuigiThePaperJamBros: If that joy is them dragging you into their shenanigans to welcome a new person.**

 **Cottonmouth25: I'm pretty sure this happens on a weekly basis. If not, daily.**

 **Please Review and Comment! Favorite/Follow if you are interested and want to see more! Guest reviews are welcome! Don't be shy!**

 **Disclaimer: Pokémon Super Mystery dungeon is owned by Spike Chunsoft and the Pokémon Company.**

* * *

"What?! You don't know what Poké is?" The Kecleon at the counter asked in shock, his already hanging jaw hanging lower than usual.

"Well... yeah. Sorry," Clyde replied, rubbing the back of his head in shame.

When Ruby was chased after by basically most of the villagers in Serene Village to who knows where, Clyde had to regain his composure just to process what just happened right in front of him. But, he got curious by what the Torchic had said to him, more specifically the 'basic facilities' she had mentioned. The first thing he had decided is to go to Kecleon's shop. But what escaped his mind was what the currency of this world was. And now he's starting to regret his decision.

"No worries! No worries!" Kecleon hastily said, not wanting to lose a customer. In his mind he thought how this is even possible. Someone who doesn't know what Poké, the money that is used by every single Pokémon in the world, is or how it works? Preposterous. Even children knew how this works. But he can't let that get to him, he had a business to run. "I can teach you on how we use it around here. It's very simple."

"That would be very nice of you to do that." The grass type thanked the lizard for his willingness to teach something that he probably thinks is second nature to everyone else. _It looks like I still have a lot of things to learn, then._

"Now, see these coins here?" Kecleon pointed at the gold coins on the table that Clyde put on the table. "Each single piece is ten Poké each, and I'm sure you know the rest."

"Oh! That was a lot simpler than I thought it would be." Clyde counted how many he had when he picked them up when traveling with Nuzleaf. "Let's see… I have fifty Poké." He smiled at himself with this new knowledge.

"Excellent!" He applauded the grass type. "Now we got this little mess out of the way. Would you like to purchase anything? We don't have much of anything to sell right now, but that doesn't mean we don't have something for you."

The child looked at what was on the shelves. A couple of apples and a small variety of berries were filling up some of the empty space. He looked back at his bag and saw that there was a Pecha Berry and Oran berries in there, but there were no apples to be found inside. At that moment he easily realized what to get. "I would like to get two apples," he said.

Kecleon nodded and went to grab two apples of the store shelves and put them on the table. "Here you go. That'll be forty Poké, please."

Clyde handed over the required amount to the shopkeeper and grabbed the two apples and put it in his bag. He waved at Kecleon as he turned to leave the shop. "Thanks for helping me out, Kecleon!"

"Don't mention it! Come back anytime!" Kecleon waved back at the child.

Clyde turned toward the Deposit Box nearby the store and started to walk toward it, but then he sighted two Pokémon in a heated conversation. One had a giant shell for a body, looking like a giant helmet, with the eyes and mouth inside. The other stood on hooves and had bright pink fur with a yellow flower on its head. Curiously he decided to listen in, staying far away as to not be seen by them.

"What?! Goomy did?!" The pink one said.

"Yeah, well, he insisted on going…" The other said dismissively.

"No more excuses, Shelmet!" The former yelled out angrily. "Tell me the truth! You and Pancham pushed him into this, didn't you? You're the ones that sent him into the Foreboding Forest! You both know he's the youngest of us and is weaker than the rest of us!"

The now identified Shelmet had his somewhat disinterested face turn into fear as he cowered a bit from the pink Pokémon's anger. "Th-that's not fair, Deerling!" he tried to defend himself. "He's the one who said he wanted to go! How can you stand there and blame us?"

Deerling wasn't calmed down at all by Shelmet's words. In fact, she looked madder than ever. "Quite easily. You're the ones who are always teasing poor Goomy, after all! You took advantage of him because of his weakness! Someday you're going to drag him into a situation where we can't help him and when that happens it'll be too late for sorries then!"

Shelmet jumped back at the season Pokemon's statement. "I-I know that! No need to fuss so much about it."

Deerling held her angry face. "You're going to show me the way there. Right now!" She demanded.

"O-of course, Deerling!" Shelmet obeyed. He headed towards the nearest pathway leading out of the plaza, with Deerling following behind.

Clyde could only watch as they both left the plaza, leaving him to ponder on the situation. _Those kids must live in the village, too, huh? Seems they're talking about someone named Goomy who is in trouble. Maybe I should go after them and see if I could help._ He started to go to the gate that the pair just went through, but a new worry started to come into his mind.

 _But wait… Should I even help them? I'm not even supposed to e out here_. He remembered Nuzleaf's orders to not leave the house under any circumstances. _But it sounds like this Goomy is in trouble. I can't help but feel bad for him and Deerling._ He started to think of the right decision to make. Obey Nuzleaf or go after those two? Finally he made a decision after a few moments.

 _You know what? I'll go after those two. Just staying in Nuzleaf's house won't do me any good. But I hope I can do this quickly before he notices I'm gone._ With that train of thought in mind, he ran to the path that the troubled Pokémon went through and proceeded to pursue after them.

* * *

Clyde just barely managed to get to where Deerling and Shelmet were, but he was always cautious about not getting caught. So he just barely kept them in his view as he silently followed them. As he kept following them he noticed that the air was getting a bit thicker as he breathed. He looked around him and what he saw was not the lush greenery of the forest, but instead the leaves of a dark violet forest around him. He noticed that the ground was getting a bit uncomfortable on his feet and saw the grass look rotten, corrupted.

 _Well somebody was in the right for calling this place the Foreboding Forest._ But still, he cannot let his unnerving feelings get to him. It's too late to turn back now.

Suddenly, Shelmet and Deerling stopped, and Clyde stopped as well to keep a safe distance from them. He looked what was past them and saw a white and black furred Pokémon looking at from what he can observe must be another mystery dungeon, as indicated as the unnatural path ahead.

 _It must be that Pancham that Deerling mentioned_ , he thought.

"Pancham, there you are!" Deerling yelled. At that moment the grass type noticed a small tree stump right near him and hid behind him, keeping his head up just enough to see the three Pokemon.

Pancham turned around from the entrance and looked at the pair behind him with a smirk on his face. "Heh, so you did come here. You're looking for Goomy, aren't you?"

"Yes I am. Where did he go?" the deer demanded.

"You already know that. He's in the Foreboding Forest, as you've heard," the panda replied, "And he's been there for a long time, too," he chuckled in self-satisfaction, "I knew he was a total wimp."

"No surprise there," Shelmet added, "He shoulda admitted what a wimp he is and kept his mouth shut."

"But he had to go and talk big, like he could handle this kind of place. He was boasting, saying, 'I'll show you!' That's what got him into this mess."

"He's probably huddled up somewhere in the forest, petrified and sniffling back tears! He must be like, 'Waa! Waa! Someone help me get out of here! I need my mommy!'" the shelled Pokémon cried out in a mock tone.

They both laughed loudly into the air, causing Deerling's already riled up temper to become higher and higher. The same could be said for Clyde, as he heard over the conversation, he became angry at the two boys' disregard for Goomy's safety. He can safely say that he can perfectly feel what Deerling felt.

"You're both the meanest Pokémon I have ever met!" Deerling exclaimed, "You both know that he's the youngest of our class!"

"Yeah, but he's the one who talks big," Pancham said, "He's got what's coming to him. We figure it's our job to teach him a little something about how harsh the world is."

Deerling retorted, "And if something happens in there? What are you going to do then, huh?"

Pancham and Shelmet stopped for a moment at the sound of Deerling's last words. Hurting Goomy wasn't their intention at all. All they wanted to do is just scare the little guy, that's all. But for him to get hurt seriously hurt…

"I'm going in after him!" Deerling declared. She started to walk forward to the entrance of the mystery dungeon, but was held back by the two Pokémon in front of her.

"Come on! Let me go through!" The season Pokémon struggled to get through, but to no avail.

"No way! You can't go in there, Deerling!" Shelmet said, pushing back the deer's efforts to get through them.

"What if something happened to you?" Pancham added in worry, "We can't let that happen to our idol! We're not letting you step foot in such a dangerous place!"

Deerling backed off from the two of them, realizing that nothing she can do will let her get past them.

"Are you kidding me?" She yelled out in frustration, "Then fine! You go in after him!"

Pancham looked back at the forest entrance and looked back at Deerling, worry on his face. "Y-you want us to go? Into the Foreboding Forest?"

"Exactly," Deerling replied.

"Uh… No way. Why would we do that? I mean, it's n-not that were scared or anything like that." Deerling raised an eyebrow at the fighting type, "I d-don't want you getting the wrong idea or whatever. You understand, right?"

"If won't let me go or both of you go after him, who will rescue Goomy, huh?"

Clyde couldn't take it anymore stepped out of his hiding spot to try to get closer to them, only to step on a stray branch and caused it to snap. The noise alerted the three and turned around in surprise at the other Pokémon in the area. What they saw was a Snivy standing in the path to the outside of the forest.

"Hm? Who's this? Haven't seen you around before," Shelmet said. The grass type stepped up to the group without saying anything.

Pancham was surprised by ignoring Shelmet's question. He decided to speak up next. "Where'd you come from? You're not from the village." Again, Clyde stayed silent. What is up with this kid? "What's the matter? Skitty got your tongue?"

"Yeah, no one's gonna understand you if you don't ever speak up." Shelmet said.

 _What should I do?_ Clyde thought. While overhearing their conversation, he got more upset over the fact that no one's willing to help a Pokémon in danger. He badly wanted to help out, since none of them are going to do it. And the feeling won't go away, as well. _You know what? I'll do it!_

"I'll go after Goomy," he finally said to them.

The response he got was them widening their eyes in shock of what they were saying. "What?!" Pancham said, "You'll go in there for us?" Clyde nodded in response.

"You sure about this?" Shelmet asked, "You do know that this place is, like, super scary, right?"

"I do. But I still want to help since you're not going to."

"W-well… If you really want to go and all, I guess were not gonna stand in your way," the panda said, "But it's no skin off our backs if you get into any trouble in there!"

"Are you sure you're up to this?" Deerling asked the grass type. "It's not going to be an easy stroll in there." Clyde firmly nodded.

"Alright then," the deer said. She turned to Pancham, "Where was Goomy trying to go, anyway?"

"He shouldn't have gone that far in," Pancham replied, "There's a big ol' piece of paper in the forest, not that far from the entrance."

Deerling tilted her head in confusion. "A piece of paper?" she asked.

Shelmet answered for Pancham, "When Pancham and I came exploring the forest before, we brought a huge sheet of paper to use it as a tarp for us to sit on. We didn't want any dirt on us. But then we got jumped by a whole bunch of scary Pokémon. Man, that was awful!" But then he chuckled, "You should've seen Pancham's face! Remembering it still cracks me up! Haha!"

Pancham reacted by glaring angrily at the shelled Pokemon causing him to yelp in fear, "Eep!"

"Back to the point," Deerling said, "So you guys left that paper there, is that it? And you told Goomy to go find it?"

Pancham replied, "Yeah. We told him to find the paper and write his name on it and bring it back. If he could do that, we said we'd admit that he had some real guts."

Deerling lowered her head in shame towards Clyde. "I'm so sorry for dragging you into this mess. I think you've got the picture now. Will you really help Goomy?"

The grass snake replied, "Yes I will. I'll bring him back for you. You must really care for him if you're concerned about him this much."

The season Pokemon blushed a little at the comment, "Yeah. I really care about the little guy."

"Come on, hurry up already!" the panda said, getting impatient.

"Alright. Here I go!" Clyde ran towards the unnatural path leading to the Foreboding Forest.

"Be careful in there!" Deerling called out as the grass type went further in.

 _I'll rescue him and bring him back to you. I promise!_

* * *

 **After writing these chapters and see when I upload them, I think I have a weekly schedule on my plate. I think I should upload every Wednesday (Or mid-week) except when I am situations where I cannot write for you all. That's my goal for this story.**

 **Anyway, for today's question of the chapter, have you fell in love with a video game, book or anything relating to entertainment so much that you want to see more than original source? An example of this would be fanart, fanfiction and the like relating to that specific thing. I'm sure we all felt it in one way or another, in merchandise, fanart websites, fan animations, and even the stories of this site. For me when I discovered Undertale, Zootopia, and the Mystery Dungeon games I fell in love in them that I went on tumblr and DeviantArt because I couldn't get enough of the story, characters, and emotions that I felt in each of these creations. And that's only counting for a few. Do you have any similar experiences? If so, what was the thing that you fell in love with?**

 **Anyways, I'll see you in the next chapter!**


	6. Seeds, Wands, and Also Goomy

**AN: I'm sorry that you readers had to wait for so long for this chapter to come out. How long was it? Three weeks? Ughhhhh... I hope that writing my longest chapter yet will make up for some of it.**

 **I realize that I won't be able to give you a weekly update due to the rise of schoolwork and other projects currently going on. I guess I'll just put it to weekly to when it's done. Sorry for the inconvenience.**

 **In Response to Reviews:**

 **Cottonmouth25: Although I think Pancham and Shelmet are total jerks, I don't perceive them as malicious. If you think about the in any other way, that's fine by me.**

 **Disclaimer: Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon is owned by Spike Chunsoft and the Pokémon Company.**

* * *

Clyde looked at his surroundings. Unlike the entrance to the Foreboding Forest, the actual mystery dungeon itself looked, for lack of a better word, foreboding. The huge tress surrounded him making a huge canopy of leaves above him. Only some sunlight managed to get through the purple leaves and hit the ground around him, only allowing him to see a gradual decrease in visibility. The grass type felt the ominous atmosphere that the forest, unnerving him a bit.

He checked his bag again before moving onwards into the only way in the dungeon ahead, and only saw the same items that he had seen before coming here. Only a few Oran Berries, a Pecha Berry, and those two apples he bought from Kecleon earlier.

"I should've been more prepared…" he muttered. He didn't even think about the items in his bag needed for exploring the dungeon. "Oh well, it's too late to turn back now. Those three Pokémon, especially Deerling, are counting on me to rescue Goomy."

He continued, only to stop at the sight of something standing out from the purple goround of the dungeon. He took a closer look and found out it was a seed. _Why would a seed pop out like this in such a place?_ He wondered. _Well, if it stands out, it must be important._ He picked up the seed and he felt a slight tingling sensation coming from the seed itself. Clyde shuddered from the strange energy coming from the seed. It felt like a huge amount of energy was trapped inside, waiting to burst out. He shook his head to ignore the feeling and put it in his bag.

A few steps forward and he encounters a sleeping Stantler, blocking his path to the next room. He slowly walked close to the sleeping Pokémon trying to get an attack first. But, before he got close enough for the Sattler to awaken, an idea popped into his mind.

 _If that seed was there, then maybe I can…_ He slowly took the seed out of the bag. He took aim, and threw it straight at the enemy Pokémon. What he didn't expect is that as soon as the seed made contact with its target, it created a small explosion that immediately knocked the Pokémon out.

"Woah!" he yelled out as the force of the blast and his close distance to the explosion knocked him back a few feet, forcing him on the ground. "Ugh… If that's going to happen with these seeds I need to be more careful." He got up and rubbed the dust off gathered on his body.

He was on the second floor after around five minutes of fighting Pokémon and looking all over the floor for every nook and cranny, trying to find Goomy. One interesting item that he did find while scouring throughout the first floor were these strange looking branches that were on the ground.

They all had the same shape, size, and pattern. They were straight and had ends where they would twist around in a spiral. And they all had a leaf on the same exact spot on all of them. And that's not the only weird thing about them. Every time he put them into his bag and looked back into it after a second, there would be only two of these sticks. He recalls getting about seven about them at the very least. The only thing that made them different is just how he felt the two branches in his bag. Although they seemed to be the exact same item, he could feel the difference between the two branches. He doesn't know how, but he could just feel the difference between the two, somehow. Clyde waved them around, trying to get a feel for them, trying to figure what their purpose was.

After reaching the third floor and defeating more Pokémon in one of the rooms on the floor, Clyde looked around his surroundings and saw that there is currently no one else but him. He took the opportunity to take an apple out of his bag as he was hungry for walking for quite a while. As he was munching on the apple he realized that he didn't pick any more apples up to this point.

 _Well… as long as I'm here I might as well look at those branches._ He took out the strange branches and inspected them closely, trying to understand how they worked. Unbeknownst to him there was another wild Pokémon, a Furfrou, entering the empty room from one of the other pathways. It was wandering around trying to hunt down any intruders on its territory. After minutes of patrolling around the area, it saw the distracted grass type standing out in the open. The normal type inwardly smiled as it marked it next target.

Clyde took a look closer at the mysterious branches again, so much so that most of his focus was diverted to what was directly in front of him instead of what was near him. It was only then that a growl followed by fast footsteps that snapped him out of his stupor. As soon as he saw that the white Pokémon charging towards him, out of reflex, he raised him arms, in brace of an attack. But it never came.

He opened his eyes to find something that he didn't expect. The Furfrou was on the ground, completely asleep. He took a moment to look at the sleeping normal type, and switched his focus on the strange branch he was holding on to. _Did this cause that_ _Pokémon_ _to fall asleep?_ He thought. He had another revelation of what these mysterious branches can do. He decided to take advantage of the situation and summoned his vine whips. Then he attacked.

* * *

Clyde walked down a fourth flight of stairs and saw that the path ahead of him seemed to widen out. _This might be where Goomy is…_ he looked ahead and couldn't see any other way to go but forward. Seeing there is no other option, he walked through the only path. He only walked around for about a minute before his ears caught a small noise. He stopped and concentrated what that noise was. He heard a small amount of sniffling, coming from the direction he was headed.

 _That crying… it must be him!_

* * *

A small dragon type was huddled up in a dead end of the Foreboding Forest, standing next to a giant piece of paper on the ground. When he said that he was going to find that piece of paper in the Foreboding Forest, he felt like no one could bring him down. He still kept his head strong in finding that piece of paper through the floors of the mystery dungeon. It was only when he did find Pancham and Shelmet's tarp and signing it with his name as they had told him that his emotions turned into pride, to worry, to regret, and to fear in a matter of moments. He was currently shaking with fear, not being able to do anything but stay put where he is.

"Ughhh… Why did I come here…? I'm so scared…" He said to himself. All he wanted to do is to prove to Pancham and Shelmet that he is not weak, that he is just as strong as them. With all the teasing coming from them his anger and pride got the better of him. And now he is regretting this decision to come here.

 _Rustle… Rustle…_ The sound of steps being made on the ground surprised the gooey Pokémon and he went farther into the dead end, forcing him up against the wall. It must be those wild Pokémon coming to get him! He closed his eyes in fear of the inevitable. There would be nobody there to help him this time. Not even Deerling. He anticipated for the worst. But it never came.

"Hey, are you okay?"

That was not a phrase that would enter his ears at this kind of situation. "Gwaaah!" He screamed out at the unexpected sound, throwing the stranger Pokémon in front of him to reel back in surprise.

"Gah!" The stranger stepped back. It was then by then that the dragon type opened his eyes, and what he saw was not the dangerous eyes of a wild Furfrou, rather a Snivy with a concerned look in its eyes. He felt somewhat comforted that it wasn't an enemy Pokemon that drew near, but that only calmed him by a small amount. His trembling lessened own to a slight shake.

"W-who are you?" he asked. The Snivy stepped slowly towards him, yet he did not move.

"I'm the one who's rescuing you," he responded. "You must be Goomy, right?" Rescuing me? The purple Pokémon wondered. Why would a Snivy want to rescue him?

"I-I am…" He replied.

Seeing the dragon type's apprehension towards him the Snivy tried to calm him down. "It's okay," he said, "Deerling sent me to find you in this forest. She said you were in trouble."

Deerling sent him? Well that's another interesting thing to learn. At the light of this new information, his breath steadied and became much less nervous. He calmed down enough to speak to the Snivy, "Deerling sent you? Why?"

"You know Pancham and Shelmet?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, they didn't want to go in here and they didn't want Deerling to come either. So I was the only one present that can come to save you."

Goomy couldn't believe it. A complete stranger would go through a dangerous place such as this to come for him, just for his friend? Any amount of doubt that was still present practically disappeared and was replaced by relief and happiness. Apparently there was so much that he cried tears of joy and gave what would be called a handless hug to the grass type. "Oh thank you! Thank you!" he said as he came close to the grass type.

"Erm, don't mention it." The Snivy replied, getting a bit uncomfortable from the close contact with the dragon type. "Um, can you…?"

Goomy immediately understood the statement and pulled back a short distance away from him. "Sorry… It's just that I was so scared…"

"Don't be scared anymore," the Snivy said. "I'm Clyde. Nice to meet you."

"Clyde… what a strange name for a Snivy…" Suddenly, Goomy's stomach grumbled loudly.

"Oh… You must be hungry for being here for so long," Clyde reached for his bag and took out an apple, "Lucky enough I was able to hang on to the last one." He handed it over to the dragon type, who immediately gobbled it down. This filled Goomy's hunger somewhat.

"Sorry, I wish I had more for you," Clyde said.

"That's okay," Goomy replied.

The grass type looked around and saw the huge piece of paper lying on the ground. What he saw on the sheet was the marks on it. He saw what seemed to be like foot writing on it. Goomy took notice Clyde's attention to the paper and its markings.

"Oh. You must've noticed my name on the paper. I was supposed to write my name on it just like what Pancham and Shelmet wanted. So I did." Goomy pointed to a spot on the paper, and Clyde looked at where the dragon type pointed to.

"Hmm..." the grass type analyzed the line of markings. "It's sorta hard to read, but I think I can still read it… G-o-o-m-y. There!" He smiled at himself. He started to fold the huge piece into a small piece that he can fit into his bag. "I'll admit it, you've shown great courage by coming here and doing what those two wanted you to do."

"R-really?" Goomy said in surprise to the Snivy's words.

"Yeah." Clyde nodded. "If I was in your situation, I wouldn't go near the forest. Especially over a piece of paper."

Goomy's eyes were welling up with tears of joy again as he was touched by Clyde's compliment towards him. "T-thank you…"

The snake smiled in response. With the huge piece of paper folded down to a more suitable size, he put it in his bag. "Come on. Let's get out of here and get you back to Deerling." He walked toward the path leading out of the dead end, with Goomy following suit.

Deerling, Pancham, and Shelmet were standing at the entrance of the mystery dungeon, waiting for the Snivy to come back with Goomy. Deerling was pacing back and forth while Pancham and Shelmet were sitting on the ground.

"What's taking him so long?" Deerling asked to no one in particular. Around two hours has passed since the Snivy went into the forest. Ever since then the trio were waiting patiently for the grass type to appear at the entrance, Goomy beside him. But when around an hour passed, Deerling started to become worried. Then she started to pace in around 30 minutes later. After 15 minutes of more waiting she was starting to lose it. She was pacing for so long that the line she walked on cleared the grass away and started to dig a pit around two inches down. Pancham and Shelmet only watched at the pink Pokémon's increasing worry. In response to Deerling's question, Pancham just grunted. "Maybe he got lost or something," he said.

"He probably hasn't made it to the second floor. How hilarious would that be?" Shelmet added. This caused the panda and shelled Pokémon to chuckle. Deerling heard this and immediately stopped her pacing to look directly at the two in annoyance and anger.

"You realize you're plain jerks, right?" Deerling said. It was around a few minutes ago that she realized back then when that Snivy said he would get Goomy, she wasn't completely thinking straight. Blinded by anger, she allowed a person who she didn't know at all to go after her dear friend. She was so caught up in the moment that she didn't even ask for his name. _How could you let this happen, Deerling!?_ She thought. _I asked a complete total stranger to come get him out of this mess! Maybe Pancham is right. Maybe he did get lost._

Before she could further think of how foolish of a decision she thought she made, the sound of footsteps caught her and the other two Pokémon's attention. The three looked at the path towards the dungeon, and what they looked at surprised them. It was the Snivy coming towards them and a familiar small purple Pokémon following after him. Deerling immediately recognized who it was.

"Goomy!" She cried out in joy and relief. She ran up to the dragon type and gave him a large embrace. "I'm so glad to see you safe."

Pancham and Shelmet had quite a different reaction. In fact they were quite amazed when they saw Goomy being brought back safely by the grass type in front of them. The only difference is that Pancham was a lot more shocked than Shelmet. "Y-you actually made it back!?" The Snivy nodded in reply. "And that's not all!" The snake replied and reached in his bag and took out a folded sheet of paper and spread it out in front of them. Pancham and recognized it as the tarp that they used in the forest earlier. But they noticed something extra on the piece of paper. Pancham looked closer and his already present level of shock rose higher.

"You actually wrote your name on it, Goomy?" The panda asked. Goomy smiled as he put on a confident face. "Yep! I sure did!"

Pancham couldn't believe it. The weak and timid Goomy actually went through the Foreboding forest alone? _No way!_ He thought. _I gotta knock him down a peg before he becomes too happy._ He looked again at Goomy's signature. _Perfect._

Clyde can only look at the group of Pokémon in front of him. He felt very content with himself. Helping out a person in need and proving two jerks wrong brought on a sense of complete satisfaction. Unfortunately this moment of gratification was short lived as the panda Pokémon in front of him began to laugh out loudly.

"Haha! Although you did what we asked, that doesn't excuse your sloppy writing!" Pancham exclaimed. Clyde saw Goomy's face turn from confidence into a face of exasperation.

"Hey! It is not sloppy!" Goomy countered. It was then that Shelmet decided to join in Pancham's games. "It is! Look at it! It's hard to read and it's all over the place! I bet you were too scared to even write properly!" The duo laughed at Goomy's expense. Goomy jaw hanged as the proof of his bravery was being used against him. Clyde and Deerling only glared at the two laughing Pokémon. They both had the same thought. _Those guys are utterly completely total jerks!_

"Come on, Shelmet! Let's show this to everyone back at the village!" Pancham grabbed the paper and proceeded towards the path out of the forest, with Shelmet following suit. "See you later suckers! Hahahahaha!" This only left Clyde, Deerling, and Goomy the only ones left near the Foreboding Forest.

"Ugh! I've had it up to here with them!" Deerling shouted out. She then realized that shouting out to people already left was pointless, and she didn't press on further. Instead she turned towards Goomy, who was still somewhat gobsmacked at Pancham and Shelmet's words. "Goomy… I'm glad that you made it out OK, but what if there hadn't been anyone around to help?"

Goomy closed in shame "… Sorry, Deerling," he apologized, "I wanted to show them that I had real guts, too. I'm getting sick and tired of them calling me a wimp all the time."

"And that's why I'm so worried about you every time I see you with them," Deerling replied, "Those two will goad you into something crazy. They would exploit your weaknesses and drag you into something that would scare you to pieces. You've got to stop listening to them!"

"I agree," Clyde said, "You don't need to do something that would appease those two alone. You can't get them see that they get to you. Just ignore them."

"Yeah," Deerling agreed with the grass type, "Although, as much as I hate to admit it, you did give it your best out there. That's for sure."

"D-Deerling!" Goomy beamed.

"You've made it that far into the forest alone and wrote your name on the paper, just like they asked you to. Even if your writing is a little sloppy…"

"Don't call it sloppy!" the dragon type retorted. Deerling gave a light chuckle and turned towards the Snivy. "Anyway, it's really thanks to you that got Goomy out of there in one piece today. We really do owe you. So thank you… Um…" She stopped mid-sentence as she didn't know the grass type's name. "Sorry, but we never got your name, did we?"

"Oh. I guess I should've told you that earlier, huh?" Clyde smiled sheepishly. "Anyway, my name is Clyde. Nice to meet you, Deerling." He extended out his arm, and Deerling shook it with her foreleg. "Likewise." She responded. "As I was saying, thank you for saving Goomy, Clyde."

"Don't mention it."

"Come on, let's get back to Serene Village before any of the grown-ups notice that we were gone too long." And with that they proceeded along the same path that went to the village.

 _I wasn't gone too long, haven't I?_ Clyde thought. _Surely Nuzleaf wouldn't have noticed I have disappeared for very long, right?_

Apparently he was very wrong. As soon as the trio got back to the village, Clyde noticed that it was starting to become night, with the sun having gone below the horizon and the first few stars were starting to appear in the night sky. Nuzleaf was standing around the plaza, desperately searching for him. And when he found him Clyde was dragged away back to his house. Now he was getting an angry lecture from his guardian.

"After I done told you to not leave the house! I done told you to stay inside until I got home, did I not?!" Nuzleaf was seething with anger as Clyde did not obey his orders.

"Sorry…" was the only reply that came out of the grass snake's mouth.

"You'd best learn to mind your elders next time! I was really worried about you!" He started calming down, his rage leaving him in an instant in a sigh. "But… Well… It ain't like I can't understand the itch to see the whole wide world out there. I've had my own misadventures exploring around this continent in my younger years. I reckon this must all be new to you, after all." Clyde nodded. "It's a fine thing to have a love of adventure in yer heart. Grown-ups will always be sayin' you can't do this, that, or the other… But there are things in life you'll never learn except by experiencin' them for yourself. I reckon that the best way of learnin' is by doing it yourself. I reckon I'm pretty lax when it comes to adventurin' and what have you. So if you have a hankerin' to go adventurin' around the village, you go on right ahead."

Clyde's shame left him as he heard this news. "Thank you, Nuzleaf!"

Nuzleaf nodded. "But from tomorrow mornin', you'll be attendin' class at the local school. So you tuck in early tonight to be all ready for yer first day."

Clyde nodded and headed towards his room. "Good night, Nuzleaf."

"And may you have a good one as well," Nuzleaf replied.

Clyde walked into his room and say a pile of hay standing on the wooden floor. _Well, it's better than nothing, I guess._ As he laid on the 'bed,' in which he found extremely comfy for some reason, he looked out the window, revealing the stars swimming in the sky and the gentle moonlight providing a soft glow throughout his room.

 _Hmmm… It seems that a lot of things have happened to me in the past couple of days. Being turned into a Pokémon without having any memory, being attacked by Beheeyem, teaming up with Nuzleaf, that Torchic Ruby, and those other kids. It certainly is interesting. But, why was I sent here? Was it by chance that I was just one of the lucky ones that I was sent here, or did somebody else do it on purpose? If so, why? What was I like when I was a human? What makes me so special?_ He yawned loudly, realizing how tired he is. _I guess I'll have to think about it another time._ As he slowly lost consciousness as he had one final thought.

 _I hope I get these answers, but I'll have to do it step by step._

* * *

 **Ah, the joys of going to a new world. New things to learn, new people to meet, and finding out the purpose of doing so.**

 **Anyway, I just wanted to talk about a point that Ikatcher made in one of his recent chapters. Since the time of the game's release, there aren't as many prominent fanfiction stories in the site than what had been expected, which is saddening. And he poses a question. He asks all readers who love PSMD to try to create their own stories and interpretations of their words coming out of each line of dialog in the main story. And I agree. So I implore you to expand your horizons and try something new if you are so passionate about it. It's the reason all of us write fanfiction, after all.**

 **And now for the question for the chapter. I've been looking at old flash games that I have played some years ago and a huge wave of nostalgia came over me. A few examples for me would be Cellcraft and the Gemcraft series. I remember making a cell anatomy drawing for my fifth grade class, thanks to Cellcraft. So, what games have you played in the past that you carry a lot of nostalgia for? I'll see to your response.**

 **Anyways, I'll see you in the next chapter!**


	7. A Conversation in the Night

**AN: Hello my dear readers. Sorry for the long wait. I only have a short chapter here for you because school can be hectic before the summer. Finals, anyone? Either way, don't expect any updates this month because of school stuff. I'll try to get one to you the beginning of the next if I have the time.**

 **Now this is going to be interesting. Since this is a fanfic I have the right to put original content deviating from the source material. It's a reason why this is called fanfiction after all. So I'm going to put my own spice into the story to make it more interesting. Please criticize so i would know if this is working or not.**

 **Anyway, Please Review and Comment! Favorite/Follow if you are interested and want to see more! Guest reviews are welcome! Don't be shy!**

 **Disclaimer: Pokémon Super Mystery dungeon is owned by Spike Chunsoft and the Pokémon Company.**

* * *

"Hmm… It surely is a beautiful night tonight," He mused to himself as he eyed the black night that surrounded himself. Truly, the night was beautiful. He saw the seemingly infinite stretch of the next sky, only visible from horizon to horizon. The sky was painted black and covered with the sparkling lights of the stars. It was near quiet around him, with only the gentle breeze and the crash of ocean waves silently reaching his ears. "If it was like this every night…"

He was standing on a wooden balcony, its polish on the railing reflecting the moonlight, giving it a nice shine. The balcony is placed around a dome, standing the highest above the structures below. He sighed with content as he stared into the soft skylight.

Suddenly, the sound of a door opening disrupted the calmness, disturbing him from his relaxation. He turned his head to where the door was opened. He saw a small orange mouse standing in the doorway, with a red spot in one both sides of its cheek with whiskers shaped like antennae. "I figured that you would be up here," it said.

"Oh, Dedenne," he said. "What a pleasure of you coming up to the balcony tonight."

"Hmph." Dedenne crossed her arms. "You do know that dinner is going to start soon, Nyx," she said.

"Oh, I know that," Nyx said. "I'm just getting a bit of fresh air, that's all." He motioned for her to come closer to him. "Come. Since were both up here, we might as well enjoy the moment."

"Fine, but as soon as dinner is ready I'm scurrying down there immediately." Dedenne hurried over to Nyx, jumping up onto the railing next to him.

"Just don't get too close to me. My fur does not like it when you're around, being an electric type and all. Such an annoyance."

"Yeah, yeah, whatevs," Dedenne replied.

"What makes you come up here, then? Other than the fact that dinner is going to start soon?" Nyx asked.

"The Chief wanted to make sure that you're feeling well. How's your head?"

Nyx clutched his head softly. "Well enough, I suppose. It's feeling a lot better. I think I should be completely fine in a day or two."

"That's good news. When you collapsed back then, we thought you were…" Dedenne shuddered at the memory she tried to recall. Nyx collapsing on the floor in front of everyone, sprawled on the ground in pain. Everybody scrambling around him, making sure he is alright.

"I know," Nyx said. "That wasn't a very good moment for me, wasn't it?"

"See? You're working yourself too hard. Even if we are doing our jobs every day, all of us have a limit. You don't know when to quit."

"Heh, I'll take that both as an insult and a compliment."

"Hey!"

Nyx only chuckled lightly. "And besides, you know I can't stop working, even now. You know what I saw around a week ago."

"I know what you saw. But even then that doesn't give you an excuse to work even harder than you already have been before," Dedenne sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if you even sleep properly, and it's concerning the rest of us, including the chief himself."

Nyx took a deep breath. "Look, when the telescope showed us that the stars are going as predicted, most of you had some doubts, sure. But when I saw Rayquaza fleeing away from the planet, I knew right away that this isn't any ordinary matter. If a legendary Pokémon such as him would flee because of this we are against something very _very_ big."

"But we don't even know if it's true or not!" the electric type countered. "For all we know, it's just events happening at the same time. We just don't have enough information to go on."

"Even then, I want to make sure that the evidence we have is a telltale sign of things to come. I want to find more information about this so that we can be better prepared to handle this, true or not."

"But please take it easy when you do it. We don't want you to harm yourself in the process. Just rest until you're completely healed. Can you promise me that?" she asked.

Nyx looked sincerely at the mouse. "I will. After all, it is the chief's orders. I can't break that sense of loyalty to him, you know? Who would disobey his charisma?"

"Hey, everybody!" A voice called out from below. "Dinner's ready! Now come on down before I eat all you meals for you!" The voice was followed by the loud thumping of footsteps with a chorus of voices replying, "Oh no you don't!"

Nyx smiled. "Looks like you better hurry up," he said. Dedenne nodded and jumped off the railway and ran to the door, disappearing below. He followed suit, walking closer to the same door. Before he fully went inside, he looked at the night sky one more time.

 _It seems that the world could be in peril again. I wonder if it is as predicted._ He chuckled to himself once more. _And, if this turns out as I thought, who will be the lucky ones to save it?_

* * *

 **It looks we have a new player on the scene. Nyx! What Pokémon is he? Only I know that answer! (Laughs to himself)**

 **Anyway, for our question of the chapter. Are you excited for the summer?! You know I am! I have no idea of what's to come in the upcoming months but I'm sure it'll be great! Got any plans for your summer?**

 **Anyways, I'll see you in the next chapter!**

 **And a Sidenote: Happy 10th Anniversary Final Fantasy 15!**

 **And also, Team Rowlet for the win!**


	8. Who Knew School Can Be So Hectic?

**AN: Hello fellow readers! I'm here to deliver you another chapter today! I hope everyone reading this is having a good summer! I think I would've given this to you some time earlier but things happen, and I had to do some stuff that gave me less time to work on this. But it's here now so who cares!**

 **I think I might have figured out a theme for Serene Village. Listen to Serenity from Final Fantasy 14 and see what you think.**

 **In Response to Reviews:**

 **warsofshadows and Ikcatcher: Maybe.**

 **Anyway, Please Review and Comment! Favorite/Follow if you are interested and want to see more! Guest reviews are welcome! Don't be shy!**

 **Disclaimer: Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon is owned by Spike Chunsoft and the Pokémon Company.**

* * *

Clyde tumbled slightly in his sleep as rays of morning sunlight started to enter through the window and surround his room and penetrate through his eyelids, making it hard to fall back to sleep.

"Ugh, five more minutes…" he moaned, trying his best to not stay awake.

Standing under the edge of the opening next to the main room. Nuzleaf was standing there, looking at the sleeping child. He then proceeded to get near him and start to rouse him awake by shaking him lightly.

"Rise and shine, Clyde," Nuzleaf said to the grass type. "We've got a big day today, and we need to get you to school early to introduce you to the teachers." He continued to nudge Clyde awake until he finally submitted and finally rose up from his bed of hay.

"That's the ticket," Nuzleaf stretched his hand for Clyde to grab. He accepted and let him help him get on his feet. "Come on now. It's time for breakfast."

"Alright," Clyde responded.

Soon enough the both of them had breakfast and washed up to prepare themselves for the day. Then they headed out of Nuzleaf's house once they were fully prepared, ready to go to school.

"You'll just follow me to the school, so that you can become familiar with the route," Nuzleaf said, "But startin' tomorrow, you'll be going alone. Understood?"

"Sure," Clyde replied.

"Oh, I almost forgot to say this but, go ahead and keep that satchel of mine."

The Snivy beamed at the proposed gift. "Really?"

"Sure. I reckon an adventurer always needs his supplies for adventurin'."

"Thank you." Clyde gripped onto Nuzleaf's, no, his, satchel with a bit more confidence.

The two went down the path that led to the side of the lake and went to the wooden bridge that led from the plaza. From there they went to the path between Kecleon's shop and the large building that had a sign next to the door that said "Café Connection."

 _Hmm... I might want to go there sometime._ Clyde though as he looked at the structure curiously.

They continued on the path for a few minutes and finally reached the school grounds. The front had a fence connected to two trunks that bent into a shape of an arc, acting as the entryway. It led to a small field in the left and another slope at the right that had nine wooden desks, facing a short wooden wall and a wooden framed blackboard supported by another bent wooden trunk.

The pair went to the other side of the classroom to reach a set of stairs that led to three tarp structures with leaves for a rooftop, the middle being set on the highest point by another set of stairs. Nuzleaf led Clyde to the middle one and stopped in the front of it.

"Mr. Principal Simipour?" Nuzleaf called to the inside of the inside of the tarp. "Might you be in here?"

Clyde could hear a small shuffling papers before he heard a voice respond to Nuzleaf, "Oh? Is that you Mr. Nuzleaf? Come in! Come in!"

The pair went inside the tarp, and Clyde saw what was inside the office. It had two small ponds on two sides of the room, carrying a few small trees and rocks in them. There was a desk at the front with a wooden chair behind it standing between two potted plants and in front of a giant window to let a lot of light in.

Clyde saw two Pokémon other than Nuzleaf in the room with him. One was simian-like with seemingly closed eyes, and blue fur with long strands coming from the head and curling at the end. The other looked like a groundhog that stood upright with red fur and yellow stripes with striking red and yellow striped eyes.

"Ah, Nuzleaf! Good to see you again!" the blue Pokémon said with a chipper tone.

"Likewise," Nuzleaf replied. Both of them proceeded to shake hands.

"Hmm, who is young one behind you?" the simian curiously looked at Clyde with interest, causing the grass type to shuffle slightly behind Nuzleaf.

"Oh, don't be shy!" he said.

"Come on, little one. Go on and introduce yourself." Nuzleaf gestured to Clyde.

"H-hello," Clyde managed to speak up, "My name is Clyde."

Simipour clasped his hands together in excitement, "Ohohoho! Well, isn't that a nice name for a Snivy such as yourself!"

Clyde blushed a bit from bit from the compliment. "Thanks."

"It seems that we're going to have a great addition to our class! What a delight!"

"I'm glad to hear that," Nuzleaf said.

It was then than the groundhog-like Pokémon decided to speak up, "Hmph, just don't make any trouble at school. We've got enough troublemakers at our school already."

Simipour gasped at the sound of the other's words. "Vice Principal Watchog! I must say that is quite unnecessary! Do we truly have any troublemakers at this fine school of ours?"

"Of course we do!" Watchog replied angrily. "And there is one in particular that is the very bane of my existence! You know exactly who I'm talking about, and don't you deny it!"

Simipour didn't seem fazed by Watchog's outburst and kept his smile. "My dear Vice Principal. Surely you do not speak ill of our precious students, wouldn't you?"

"Watchog, I know that you won't tolerate any kind of mischievousness from your students," Nuzleaf said. "But I assure you, Clyde is one of the nicest students you'll ever meet."

Watchog grunted in disbelief. "If you say so, Nuzleaf. But if he steps out of line I will have to punish him thoroughly."

Nuzleaf nodded. "I understand." he kneeled down and patted Clyde on the shoulder. "Clyde, be a good student to these fine teachers, will you?"

"Of course, Nuzleaf," Clyde replied.

Nuzleaf smiled and stood up. "Well, I reckon I'll take my leave now." He bowed towards the two teachers and headed towards the entryway, only to turn back and give a smile at the grass snake. "Have fun at school Clyde!"

"Bye!" Clyde said as his guardian left the tent.

"Now, young one," Simipour said. "Let's wait for the other students and teachers to arrive so that we can introduce you to them all at once. I want to surprise all of them that we have a new addition to our class. We've got some time before the school bell rings."

"Yes sir," Clyde replied.

And so the three Pokémon waited for the rest of the students and teachers to arrive before the bell rings. Soon enough, the grass type heard voices from outside.

"Good morning, Mr. Farfetch'd!" One voice, Clyde noticed as Goomy's, rang out.

"Ah! Yes, good morning!" came another voice that the grass type didn't recognize replied.

"Morning, Mr. Farfetch'd!" another voice, Deerling greeted the now named Farfetch'd.

"And a good morning to you, Miss Deerling!" Farfetched said.

"Morning, Teach!" Clyde immediately realized the voice belonging to Pancham, and in recognizing that he felt a small spark of animosity, recalling the events of yesterday.

"Hey, teach," Pancham continued, "What's with that leek you're carrying around so much?"

"Well, my boy, it would be quite far fetched for me to not carry such a useful tool!"

Clyde, for some reason, groaned on the inside and got the feeling to facepalm himself, but he ignored it.

"Erm, anyway. I'm afraid you're wrong about one thing. This is no leek. It's a stalk. But never you mind that now. Come along everyone. To your seats!"

"Ah! It seems as though all of the students have arrived. Let's introduce you to your new classmates, shall we?" Simipour said.

 _Hmm, some of the kids I just met are in this school with me? I guess this won't be so awkward after all,_ Clyde thought as the water type led him outside.

Clyde could barely see the students on the lower floor. He saw who was in front of the chalkboard, who he guessed as Farfetch'd. He was a bird with grey feathers on the head and outside and white heathers on the belly and the underside of his wings. He had a black V on his head acting like eyebrows. But that's not what he only saw. He saw Goomy standing in the front row and Pancham and Shelmet standing at the back row. Deerling was positioned in the middle row. But another Pokémon, a bipedal cat with purple-grey colored fur with circular purple eyes, was standing in the middle of all the desks.

Just before the three Pokémon reached the stairs, Simipour, stopped around and turn to Clyde.

"Wait here, Clyde," he whispered. "I want you to come out and introduce yourself when I say he proceeded to walk forward to the edge of the stairs.

"Everyone! If I may have your attention!" He started to get the notice of the students and the teachers in the open classroom below.

"Principal Simipour!" Farfetch'd exclaimed, surprised by the principal's arrival. This also caused some of the students to murmurs well.

"Mr. Farfetch'd, I'm sure you wouldn't mind me taking the front desk for just a moment, would you?" the principal asked.

"No, no, sir. Go ahead," Farfetch'd said as he stepped aside for the simian to take his spot.

"Everyone, I have a special treat for all of you today!" Simipour said, which caused the Pokémon in front of him to murmur even more, wondering what this special announcement could be.

"We have a new friend joining us!" he announced. "Come on out, young one!" He motioned to the ledge above the staircase.

 _That's my cue!_ Clyde went forward to the stairs and started to come down. As he walked down the wooden steps and came to the other side of the classroom, most of the students gasped in surprise on who they were looking at.

Simipour smiled at the students' amazement. "Everyone, I would like you to meet-"

"Th-that's the kid who-?!" Pancham interrupted.

"You're the one from yesterday!" Deerling said. Some of the others reacted around the same way, as well.

The simian was very surprised when most of the students recognized who the new student was, which disheartened him a little bit. "Oh? It looks like some of you are already acquainted with our new friend. But, for those who are not familiar with him, I'd like you to meet Clyde. He just moved here and lives with Mr. Nuzleaf, whom all of you may know. I hope you'll all get along very well."

Suddenly, the entire classroom heard a very loud rushing of footsteps, getting progressively louder. Everyone turned around to the source of the thudding, which was toward the entrance of the school. Clyde saw a familiar orange feathered figure rushing towards the school, and _fast_.

 _Is that Ruby?!_ The grass type thought.

"OOOOOHH NOOOOO! I'M GOING TO BE LAAAAAATE!" Ruby yelled as she rushed madly to get to school as soon as she can. In doing so, she focused solely on her current task and ran blindly up the path to the classroom, without paying attention to what's in front of her. And what was in front of her was the Snivy.

"Watch out!" Clyde yelled in hopes of getting the Torchic's attention, but to avail. It was too late to stop her now, even too late to avoid her.

"Augh!" they both yelped as Ruby rammed into Clyde, causing an extreme amount of sudden pain to both of their heads, moreso the grass type. They both hit the ground, dazed by the impact.

"Typical! The troublemaker strikes again," Watchog exclaimed.

Ruby was the first to recover from the hit and looked at who she slammed into.

"Imsorry imsorry imsorry! Are you alright?!" she apologized frantically, only to recognize who she's apologizing to.

"Clyde?"

Clyde on the other hand, was still suffering from head pain, so much so that he was starting to lose consciousness. _Ow… this hurts really bad... Can't… hold on… Everything's… going… black…_

* * *

 **Who knew that the first day of school can be so hectic? Well, as much as I know about the 'shenanigans' that occur during the first day of school in other fiction, I think I can say this is one of the most... eventful. But never you mind that! I have a question to ask of you all!**

 **Since this chapter is uploaded the week of E3, I want to know what games you are excited for that were presented at the event. I am excited for Zelda, Pokemon Sun and Moon (Go Team Rowlet!), the Crash Bandicoot remakes, and Final Fantasy XV. What are yours?**

 **Anyways, I'll see you in the next chapter!**

 **Sidenote: I'm guessing that a few of you have noticed (If you've ever found yourself re-reading chapters time and time again) that some fixes were made to the story, and I want to say to just ignore them since they are very minor mistakes.**


	9. School Lessons and a Proposal

**AN: Greetings, readers! Guess who got the game and is currently playing it~? Me! Anyway, I hope you're having an enjoyable summer for today I give you the next chapter!**

 **I found a Let's Play of PSMD that's ongoing by TheGoldCrow. He's making a dub of the game and he definitely needs more views than he has now. I listen to the voices of the characters and it is *mwah!* delightful. Please check it out.**

 **A Response to Reviews:**

 **Cottonmouth25: I love Simipour's perception on life.**

 **warsofshadows: It's a bit too soon to ask that question, isn't it?**

 **Ralmon: That's okay. I think people love Popplio more than they think they do.**

 **Anyway, Please Review and Comment! Favorite/Follow if you are interested and want to see more! Guest reviews are welcome! Don't be shy!**

 **Disclaimer: Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon is owned by Spike Chunsoft and the Pokémon Company.**

* * *

"Ohhhhh…Urghhh…" Clyde slowly regained consciousness, feeling a sharp pain in the front of his head, causing him to grasp his forehead, which eased the pain only a little bit.

 _What happened…?_ The grass type tried to remember what happened before passing out. Suddenly, the memories rushed back toward him. _Oh, right. So much for a warm welcome._

Clyde found himself in another place than the outdoors classroom. Instead, he was in another tent-like structure similar to Simipour's office, but with different décor. It had potted plants on the floor and many more hung from the ceiling. The inside held a pleasant amount of light and the air smelled very fresh of sweet scents. He was currently lying on one of the two hay beds on the floor. _Where am I?_ he wondered.

"Oh! You're awake!" a soft female voice said. Clyde turned his head and saw that there was another Pokémon standing at the entryway. She had oval blue eyes and pink and cream fur with the pink fur on the top half on her head and on her body that was shaped like a jacket over her cream fur. She had big ears and long extensions on under her ears.

"What is this place?" the grass type asked.

"This is the school nurse's office," the Pokémon said. "You were sent here after Ruby knocked you out."

"Oh. Well, who are you?"

"Ah. Where are my manners? I'm Audino, Serene Village's doctor and health teacher at this school," Audino answered. "Does your head feel better? That was quite the hit you received from Ruby."

Clyde reached his forehead, only feeling a slight dull ache instead of the sharp pain he felt earlier. "It's only a slight ache. It doesn't hurt much."

"That's good to hear! Looks like you should be fine enough to join the class. Unfortunately, you were out for quite some time and class has started without you."

"Then I should hurry up and join them." Clyde stood up and started to walk towards the exit.

"Thank you for taking care of me when I was out." He said.

"My pleasure!" Audino replied. She smiled brightly as Clyde exited, waving as he did so.

Clyde walked outside, the clean air and the bright sunshine greeting him. He headed towards the ledge where Farfetch'd was currently teaching the class. Most of them were listening attentively, with Pancham and Shelmet sleeping at the back of the class, until Ruby noticed who was standing above them.

"Clyde!" she said suddenly, causing Farfetch'd and the other students, and causing Pancham and Shelmet to wake up suddenly, turn in the direction where the Torchic was facing. They saw the Snivy up on the ledge, mostly recovered from the hit. Clyde saw a few of the students, specifically Ruby, Goomy, and Deerling, come up to him very quickly.

You're awake!" Ruby exclaimed. "Thank goodness! I'm so so sorry for running into you like that! Are you OK?"

"Yeah," Clyde replied. "I feel mostly fine."

"That's good," Ruby sighed in relief at his answer.

"I'm glad to see that you're alright," Deerling said.

"Yeah. Everybody was worried about you from back then," Goomy said.

"A-HEM!" Farfetch'd cleared his throat loudly, getting the attention of the students. "We are in the middle of class! No one said you could leave your seats!"

"S-sorry, Mr. Farfetch'd!" The students apologized. And, as soon as they left their seats to get to Clyde, that came back down and returned to their seats, with the grass type following suit.

"Ah, your name must be Clyde, I presume?" Farfetch'd asked, in which the Snivy nodded in reply.

"Do you feel well enough to join the class?" Clyde nodded again.

"Well, in that case, your seat is assigned to where your bag is. Please take the desk next to Ruby, if you please."

"Hehehehe!" Ruby snickered as Clyde headed towards the seat to her right.

"Oi! All eyes up front!" Farfetch'd ordered.

"Yes, sir!" the Torchic responded happily.

"Now then! Let's see here…" Farfetch'd rummaged through a page of his book on his desk, trying to find where he left off.

"Here we go." He cleared his throat again. "'As these two partners, throughout all their hardship, their time together, their friendship, they looked up to the Glacial Palace, determined to stop the Bittercold from covering the world in eternal ice…'"

* * *

 _Ding-dong-dong-ding!_

 _Ding-ding-dong-ding!_

"And with that, it's time for a ten minute recess," Farfetch'd said as he temporarily dismissed the class.

Clyde put his head on his hands and put his hands on the table slightly tired from the story. Not to say he was tired from the story itself, in which it was very interesting.

 _So the world was saved by only two Pokémon?_ He thought. _It seems amazing of what two can do to in this world. I wonder if I could be like one of them. It's a possibility._

"Clyde," said a familiar young voice. He looked up to see Deerling and Goomy standing in front of him.

"Oh, hey you two," Clyde said to the two Pokémon.

"Hey Clyde," Deerling said.

"I-I just want to thank you for yesterday," Goomy said.

"Yeah, we owe you one," Deerling said.

"Aw, there's no need to thank me again," Clyde replied.

"Wait a minute!" Ruby exclaimed. "Just what did you do, Bloom?! Suddenly everyone loves you around here!"

"Well…" Clyde explained what happened yesterday about following Deerling and Shelmet to the Foreboding Forest, in which he had to rescue Goomy in there for them.

"That's amazing!" Ruby said.

"It was nothing, really. I'm just doing what's right," Clyde said.

"Oh, don't be so modest!" Deerling said. "Going out of your way to save my friend is something that most Pokémon wouldn't do."

She scowled. "Other than those two jerks…" she alluded to the panda and shelled Pokémon whispering to each other in the back of the classroom.

"I suppose you're right," Clyde said.

"Oh! I believe that you haven't met my other friend," Deerling pointed to the Pokémon in the middle of the classroom, who was looking towards the entrance.

"Could you say hello to Clyde, please?" Deerling asked the student.

The Pokémon turned towards the grass type, exposing him to the purple eyes that the Pokémon bore. This caused him to shiver a little from the creepy-looking set of eyes.

"Hello, Clyde," the Pokémon said in a nearly calm, almost creepily calm, voice. "I am Espurr. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Erm, nice to meet you too," Clyde said, trying to not let himself get too distracted by the eyes.

Deerling and the other classmates seemed unfazed by Espurr's stare. "She's the oldest student in our class," she said.

"And really smart and strong to boot, too!" Goomy added.

Pancham and Shelmet were currently looking at the students, who are conversing around the Snivy.

"Hmph. What a bunch of dummies," Pancham muttered. Ever since Clyde moved into Serene Village, he becomes the center of attention in just two days.

"Hey, Pancham?" Shelmet turned to the panda.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"I think I've got an idea that'll teach that Snivy about messing with us."

Panhcam's interest piqued. "What idea do you have in mind?"

Soon enough the students returned to their positions in their seats at the sound of the bell, waiting for the next lesson to begin.

"All right students!" Clyde and the others turned to the staircase and saw Watchog on top of the ledge. He walked down to the front desk.

"I, you illustrious Vice Principal, will give you your lesson!" He said with an egotistical tone. "And you better not cause any trouble, any of you! Especially you, Ruby!"

 _This is going to be interesting,_ Clyde thought.

* * *

 _Ding-dong-dong-ding!_

 _Ding-ding-dong-ding!_

The final bell rang, signifying the end of the school day. The students began to leave the school grounds, saying their farewells to the teachers. Clyde was on the path to the village square, exhausted by Watchog's, _interesting_ , teaching method.

 _Who knew that yelling out what he teaches can stick to your mind..._ Clyde thought. On the one side, he learned of the many types of Pokémon and what types can affect others. On the other side he had a ringing in his ears that he believed would be permanent, but thankfully it started to disappear when class ended.

"Hey, Clyde!" a voice behind him yelled. He turned around and saw Ruby walking towards him.

"Sorry for stopping you, but… I hope that you don't mind walking home together, would you?" she asked.

"Sure, I don't mind," Clyde said.

"All right!" Ruby exclaimed. And so they both started walking down the path to their homes.

"I didn't get to show you around the plaza yesterday. I'm afraid a little something popped up and got in the way. Hahahaha!"

"Yeah, I saw," Clyde muttered.

"But today is a new day! How about I take you around after this?"

"Well, actually… I kind of showed myself around the plaza when you left. Sorry."

"Oh…" Ruby hung her head. "That's that, I guess." But then she got an idea and perked her head up.

"Oh! I know!" she stepped in front of Clyde, stopping them in their tracks.

"Since you showed yourself around, how about I show you someplace really good!" She said confidently.

"Really?" Clyde asked.

"Yeah! It's the best, and you'll feel great after visiting it! You won't regret it, I'm sure!"

"Well, I don't have anything else better to do. Sure, I'll go with you."

"Great! You're the best! Then follow me!"

The Torchic ran ahead, with Clyde following behind her. He couldn't help but smile at Ruby's cheerful tone. Her energy seemed contagious and he felt less exhausted than before. They were running so fast that they didn't notice two figures to their right.

"Hold it right there, Clyde!" Pancham yelled. But he was ignored as Clyde and Ruby passed him and Shelmet.

"Hey!" Pancham yelled again. "I told you to stop, didn't I!?"

The pair noticed and turned towards the other pair.

 _Oh, great. These two,_ Clyde though, clearly annoyed by their presence.

"What is it?" Ruby asked. "We've got somewhere to be, so…"

"We weren't talking to you!" Shelmet interrupted. "Only Clyde needs to hear us out."

The Snivy crossed his arms. "What do you want?" he asked.

"So Clyde!" Pancham said. "I have to admit, you did a pretty good job making it out of the Foreboding Forest yesterday."

 _Yeah, the forest I had to go through to save Goomy because of you two,_ Clyde thought.

"But don't go thinking that making it out of the forest means you're tough!" Pancham continued.

"Yeah, don't go thinking that!" Shelmet added.

"There are way scarier places than that place in the whole world!"

"Yeah, there are!"

"There are?! Where?!" Ruby said excitedly.

"We're not talking to you!" Pancham said. "Anyway, if you can clear an even scarier dungeon, then we'll admit you've got some real guts! So how about it? You up to the challenge?"

 _What, is he crazy?! There's no way I would accept a challenge from this guy!_ He was going to open his mouth to say no, but Ruby spoke before he could say anything.

"We'll go! We'll go!"

"Wait, Ruby. I don't think this is a good idea." Clyde said.

"Yeah, we're asking Clyde," Pancham said.

"Come on! Where's your sense of adventure?!" Ruby asked, not considering the implications of the challenge.

"But you're not going to go with-" Pancham started to retort, but was interrupted.

"Wait, Pancham," Shelmet said. "C'mere a second." They both huddled together and talked to each other in hushed voices.

Clyde turned to Ruby. "It's not that I won't take his challenge. It's just that Pancham is giving it."

"But aren't you the least bit curious?" Ruby asked. "Surely you want to find out what he wants us to do, right?"

Now that he did think about, he can't say he was the least bit curious. "Fine. But we'll just have to see what he says." He looked at the other two Pokémon in front of him, still huddled together.

"You want Ruby to come along with him? I thought we agreed that only Clyde would go." Pancham whispered to his shelled friend.

"Well, you know how she's super annoying?" Shelmet reasoned. "I say we allow her to go with him. It would teach them both a lesson!"

"Hmm…" Pancham though for a second. "All right, let's do that." He finally agreed.

They both turned to Ruby and Clyde, who are both waiting on what they are going to say next.

"All right, Ruby. You can come along with Clyde." Pancham said.

"Woohoo!" Ruby cheered.

"Just follow us," Shelmet said.

And so the four Pokémon went along the path to the plaza and went out the same exit that Clyde went through yesterday.

 _Hopefully this turns out all right._

* * *

 **I swear, the kids are _way_ too smart to be elementary students. I know in this universe they learn really fast, but still, who reads stories that you'd find in your first grade classroom to students who are probably equivalent in age as middle school students!?**

 **Now for the question! Today's topic, movies! do you think that there are too many sequels made to Disney movies nowadays. The though came up ever since Finding Dory came out. I haven't seen it yet, but that's not the point. I think that they can at least make more new ideas just a tiny bit. What do you think?**

 **Anyways, I'll see you in the next chapter!**


	10. The Drilbur Coal Mine

**AN: Aaaaand I'm back for another chapter! Man, summertime passes by _way_ too much.**

 **Guess what?! We broke 1,000 views! And on my birthday, too! I was too lazy to upload on that day, though.**

 **No reviews to respond to (except Ralmon's) today. Oh well.**

 **Anyway, Please Review and Comment! Favorite/Follow if you are interested and want to see more! Guest reviews are welcome! Don't be shy!**

 **Disclaimer: Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon is owned by Spike Chunsoft and the Pokémon Company. (P.S. Should I do this disclaimer more or not?)**

* * *

"Isn't this... the Drilbur Coal Mine?" Ruby asked.

The group was hiding behind a small ledge on a path that led to a cave entrance surrounded by a structure of wood. Three mole-like Pokémon were wibbling around in and out of the entrance to the mine.

"That's right," Shelmet said. "Those Drilbur over there run the mine. But, not only is it a mine, it is also a mystery dungeon. Halfway into the mine, there are two paths. The right path will go on into the regular mine. The left path is where the mystery dungeon continues."

"So, what do you want us to do?" Clyde asked.

"We want you to sneak into the mystery dungeon and bring back some rubies as proof of clearing it." Pancham answered.

"Like my name!" Ruby said.

"Really, that's it?" Clyde asked. He was expecting a much greater sounding challenge than what the fighting type implied. He felt like this was too simple a task.

"That's right," Pancham confirmed. "Do that, and we'll admit that you has real guts. I'll have you know that I cleared that dungeon in no time flat!"

"Really!? That's amazing!" Ruby said.

"Yeah, well. That's just how good I am," Pancham said with a grin.

"Yeah, sure…" the Snivy muttered, not completely believing what the panda claimed.

"So why isn't anyone supposed to go down the left path, anyway?" Ruby asked.

"Huh? Do you _really_ want to know?" Pancham asked in return suddenly.

"Oh, wait! Don't tell me!" Ruby said in realization. "I think it's way more interesting to find out for yourself. Right, Clyde?"

"I suppose," Clyde said.

"Y-yeah, it is…" Pancham said with slight nervousness.

"Then that settles it! Let's go in there and get those rubies!" The Torchic exclaimed.

"You go and do that. Make sure you get them, all right?" Pancham said. He and Shelmet turned to the path that led back to the plaza, snickering in that was barely audible. Ruby and Clyde were left, facing the Drilbur Coal Mine.

"Come on! Let's go!" Ruby went forward to the mine, with Clyde following her, but only to stop after a few steps.

"Oh… I just remembered. I had been planning to show you my favorite place to go, but I guess it can wait, right?" she said.

"Sure, I don't mind. All we have to do is go in there, get those rubies, and get out, right?" Clyde said.

"Ooh! I got another idea! I promise you, when we're done with this, I'll take you there as soon as we're done, got it?" Ruby said. Clyde nodded in reply.

"Then let's check out that dungeon!"

The two looked at the entrance to the mine and saw the three mole-like Pokémon still wibbling around the entrance.

"Um, what are we going to get past them?" Clyde gestured to the Pokémon at the entrance. "It doesn't look like they're not let us in."

"Oh, those Drilbur?" Ruby turned towards him with a smile, a glint of mischievousness in her eyes. "I know how to sneak past them. Just follow me." She then started to walk in right in front of the entrance, confusing the Snivy.

 _How is this sneaking past them?_ He reluctantly followed her, hoping she had a plan for this.

Just as they stopped near the front of the mine, they were noticed by the Drilbur patrolling the area.

"Ah!" one of the Drilbur yelped at the intruders. The three Drilbur, faced them, wibbling in the process.

"Er, uh…" the second Drilbur tried to speak, but wibbled while doing so. "Wh-where are you two going?"

"Inside, obviously," Ruby said, which dumbfounded the Drilbur and Clyde as well.

 _She just told them what we're going to do right in front of them!_ Clyde thought. How are they going to sneak past them now?

"You're that little rascal from the village," the third Drilbur stated.

"And this is a mine, you know," The second Drilbur continued. "A mine is no place for a child."

"Ah, I see," Ruby said. "Sorry to have bothered you."

She then turned towards Clyde. "Since that's the case, Clyde… Let's look for opening so we can sneak in past these guys, alright?"

Clyde and the Drilbur were dumbfounded yet again at the Torchic's statement. _This isn't going to work at all…_

"Don't worry about it!" Ruby said cheerily. "We'll be real sneaky so you don't notice a thing!"

She looked to the left and looked slightly into the air. "Hey, all of you Drilbur! Look over there! There's a tree full of delicious apples that just sprouted up!"

This caught the three Drilbur off guard and become stiff, trying to resist the temptation to look.

 _This kid's trying to trick us, right?_

 _It's the old distract-'em-with-food trick… I shouldn't look!_

 _We shouldn't believe this Torchic. But… she could be right. Maybe I should check. Just for a second…_

Soon enough, they couldn't resist and looked at the direction where Ruby was facing.

"Now's our chance! Ruby said. "Let's go!"

"Huh, what?" the third Drilbur said, still trying to look for the apple tree.

"Someone should stop them!" the second Drilbur exclaimed.

"Okay, I will!" the first Drilbur turned back around, only to notice that the Torchic and the Snivy are already gone.

"Oh."

* * *

Clyde and Ruby continued down the passageway, until they ended up in another room, which continued the mystery dungeon.

"I can't believe that worked," Clyde said in disbelief.

They both found themselves in a somewhat decently lit cave with orange walls and rocks surrounding them. The walls had an assortment of different kinds of rocks, varying in color. The ground was cracked with a light layer of sand covering it. There was some dust flying around them. They were in a room with two narrow hallways, confirming that they are in a mystery dungeon.

"Well, we're definitely in the mine now," the Snivy observed.

"Let's go and find those rubies!" Ruby started to run into one of the corridors that led out of the room with a slight spring in her step.

"H-hey! Wait up!" Clyde started to follow as quickly as he can to catch up with her. He barely reached to where she was.

In this room, there were a few items were scattered across the floor. There was an Oran Berry and a few more of those branches around. But that wasn't an only thing inside this room. Instead there were a few wild Pokémon, as well. One was orange shelled with a huge head and jaw, a Trapinch and the other one a small camel with a small volcano on its back, a Numel. The pair's presence were made in the room immediately.

Clyde readied his stance as both wild Pokémon proceeded towards the two, but Ruby ran towards the Numel, using her claws to knock back the camel. This opened up an opportunity for the Trapinch to open its jaws for an attack, but couldn't land the attack due to the Snivy's quick thinking and using his whips to strike. But he didn't manage to knock out the Trapinch. It stood up, focusing its attention on the attacker.

He narrowly dodged the Trapinch's jaws, getting only scratched by them. He retaliating by tackling it on the side, managing to knock it out.

"Alright, now to deal with the other- Agh!" he felt his body sear with a jolt major pain, only to disappear, but still linger. He had been focused on the Trapinch too much that he left himself open to attack. He turned towards where the attack was launched as he recovered to see that Ruby was still fighting the Numel, which had smoke coming from its mouth.

"Hey! Over here!" Ruby yelled getting the Pokémon's attention. Only to be met with a few swift kicks in the face by Ruby's talons, knocking it out. She then ran over to the Snivy, concerned at his condition.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah. Nothing that an Oran Berry can fix, right?" Clyde rummage through his bag and quickly took out said berry and ate, the pain and scratches disappeared.

"That's better."

"Wait a minute…" Ruby looked at Clyde's bag and took a peek inside.

"There's barely anything in your bag! There should be a lot more stuff we should need!" Ruby exclaimed. "We need more orbs, wands, and berries!

"Heh," Clyde chuckled. "I never saw you the type for knowing what all this stuff is."

"Huh?" Ruby questioned. "This is stuff every adventurer should know. Otherwise we wouldn't get anywhere. Haven't you been in any mystery dungeons before?"

"Well… no. At least not that much," Clyde answered, remembering that he only went to three mystery dungeons ever since he came to this world.

"Oh… Well in that case, as a fellow adventurer, I'll explain what you need to know!"

The Snivy was surprised. "Why?" he asked.

"I don't know what it is, but I just get this gut feeling from you to help you out. Just call it a hunch. Also, we won't get far if we don't have enough items." She walked over to the items scattered over the floor.

"Oh." Clyde seemed mildly surprised. She definitely seemed less childish when it comes to these kinds of adventures. After her… interesting introduction yesterday he thought she was a very strange Pokémon. But now he looked at her again. He had to admit, he had some newfound mutual respect for her.

The Torchic handed the berry over with her beak and the wands in one of her talons. Clyde put them in his bag

"Well, let's gather those items," Clyde said.

And so, they traversed through the first few floors of the dungeon, all the while Ruby giving some pointers and explanations. She explained that those same-looking branches were called wands, and they deal a variety of ailments to the opposing Pokémon it's aimed at. While exploring each floor, they made sure to get as many items as they can manage to make sure that Clyde's bag had more items in it such as Oran Berries, a few different types of wands, and elixirs. While Ruby continued to explain, Clyde found another kind of item he had never seen before. They looked like blue crystal balls, which Ruby said were Wonder Orbs, which worked the same as wands, but can affect the room.

Picking up these items were a great help, as it did help them in a couple of situations. Once they were surrounded by multiple wild Pokémon, in which Clyde used one of those orbs to petrify all of them just to get to the stairs nearby. One kind of wand confused the attacker's sense of direction, and provided enough of an opening to attack easier.

After climbing down the stairs, they didn't find themselves in another room of the dungeon. Rather, they were in a more natural cave fortune. And how they entered was strange, too. When they went down the stairs, they happened to pass through a corridor of rocks to where they are now.

"Hey, look over there," Clyde said.

In front of them were two separate openings that led deeper into the caves. The path to the right was open and nothing was in the way. On the other hand, the opening on the left was moderately barred with wooden boards and warning tape, intent on sending the message that was a restricted area.

"The path splits in two right here!" the Torchic beamed.

"All we have to do is just take the path on the left, right?" Clyde asked.

"Yep! There won't be anything for us in the right, but the rubies will be on the left."

"There's another Drilbur at the front too," Clyde pointed to the mole Pokémon in front of the entrance. "Since you got us past those Drilbur at the entrance, I'll leave it to you here."

"'Kay!" Ruby smiled, again with mischievousness in her eyes.

They both stepped forward, getting attention of the Drilbur ahead.

"H-hold it right there…" The Drilbur said. "This is no place for children to play in. And it sure looks like you're thinking of going into this tunnel over here, but no one's allowed in this tunnel. Not ever, for any reason whatsoever."

"Oh! So it really is forbidden to enter? Thanks for telling us!" Ruby said.

"No, no… There's need to thank me…" The Drilbur smiled. "So run along now and leave this mine, ok?"

But the both of them still stayed where they are.

"Wait! You still want to go in there?!"

"Yeah." Ruby cocked her head. "Is that a bad thing?"

"W-well, you're kind of famous in the village. A-and not in a good way. You'll end up making trouble in there."

"Oh please let us in!" the Torchic begged. "I promise we won't cause any problems!"

"Are you sure?" The Drilbur asked, trying to hold its ground.

Ruby stepped up to the Drilbur, staring intently. "Look at my eyes. See how serious I am?"

The Drilbur could only stare into the Torchic's eyes for a minute. "… I don't see anything…"

"Then we're good to go in!" Ruby chimed. "Let's go, Clyde!"

"Wait, what?" the Drilbur could only stare, powerless in stopping the two kids go forward on the left path.

"That was never going to my way, was it?"

The pair continued onto the cave until they ended up in another room of the mystery dungeon.

"Still, I can't believe that worked again." Clyde said. "You're pretty amazing, Ruby."

"Thanks!" Ruby responded.

"Right then." Clyde rummaged through his bag, checking through his inventory.

"Let's see… It seems we got more berries and a more elixirs. We still got those wands, still going to be useful. Now, where are we?"

He looked up only to see the same walls and shaped that they were in previously. "Still the same. Though it does feel a bit warmer. Yeah, we must be going deeper. Just a little more and we'll get those rubies."

"Then let's go then!" Ruby exclaimed, eager to continue on.

"Agreed."

They continued to trek on through the floors, passing through more rooms, finding more items, defeating more Pokémon along the way. It was certainly a lot easier getting through it, with less of a worry getting more items. But due to Clyde being a grass type, it held the pair back as he had to be careful of attack from fire types, many of them which inhabited the caves. Plenty of times Ruby had to cover for him because she can take those kinds of attacks better, being a fire type herself. It started to become the same routine soon enough.

* * *

But right after they reached down the stairs of the eight floor, they couldn't see anything in front of them. They were stuck in pitch blackness.

"Hm?" Ruby said. "It looks like we've ended up in the dark…"

"Grrrrr!" A loud and menacing growl filled both their eardrums.

"Wh-what was that?" Clyde asked, suddenly fearful of what's lurking in the darkness. Ruby, not so much.

"Silly Clyde! Is that your tummy rumbling?"

"N-no it isn't!" Clyde said.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrr!" The growling seemed to get louder.

"Huh? That's a pretty odd sound for a stomach to make, though…" Ruby said, seeming to ignore Clyde's response.

"Grrrrrr! Exactly!" The growling came from and angry sounding male voice. "What you hear is not a stomach rumble!"

"Whoa! Your stomach can even do voices?! You're full of many surprises, Clyde! A stomach with a verbal burble, who would've thought?"

"Wh-what?" The voice staggered, put off by the fire-type's response. Were you even listening?! The one making that noise is me! I'm the one growling at you!"

Suddenly, the darkness turned into a flash of brilliant light, causing both of them to close their eyes in reflex. Once the flash died down, they saw that they were in a very large opening space. They were standing on one side of a flat arena of sorts, surrounded by stalagmites and stalactites. But they weren't alone. In the other side of the arena, there was a menacing-looking lizard that stood on two legs. He had blue scales with a red underside and fins on its arms, legs, and tail. His eyes were an angry, fierce gold.

"Wauuuggghhh!" Ruby yelped at the sight of the menacing look.

"Who are you?" Clyde asked.

"My name is Gabite! And this is my territory!" he looked at the two in front of him. "And you! What are you… kids?! Hmph, it doesn't matter. I'm not going easy on you thieves!"

"Thieves?!" Ruby and Clyde said at the same time.

"We wouldn't do anything like that, Mr. Gabite sir!" Ruby said.

"Then why are you here!" Gabite demanded.

"We came here to look for some rubies," Clyde answered. "We don't mean you any harm."

"Y-yeah! What he said!" Ruby added. She looked around. "Hey, have seen any of them lying around here?"

"Hmm… rubies, you say?" He looked at them with more menacingly. "Those are my treasure! My precious jewels! I knew you'd come to steal them, you little thieves!"

Both of them were very surprised at the dragon type's statement.

 _So_ that's _why Pancham wanted us to come here looking for them!_ Clyde thought.

"Come my Drilbur compatriots!" Gabite yelled.

Suddenly, a short fumbling was felt under their feet and three Drilbur popped out of the ground, surrounding the two.

"It's time fulfill your promise and rout out these thieves! Let the battle begin!"

In a panic, Ruby and Clyde readied themselves, one of the Snivy's hands reaching in his bag, searching quickly for an orb.

"Uh, actually…" One of the Drilbur spoke. "You see, fighting isn't really our forte… so…"

"Please forgive us!" one of the other Drilbur said.

And as soon as they arrived, they dove underground, away from the remainder who are still standing in the arena, leaving them a moment of silence.

"…" Gabite stared at where they left, only to turn towards Ruby and Clyde. "Never mind! I'll fight you myself! Even if you're a bunch of kids, that doesn't mean you're not thieves!" He crouched towards them, preparing for an attack.

"Here we go…" Clyde said as he and Ruby faced him.

 _I shouldn't have listened to Pancham! Not one bit!_

* * *

 **Looks like a boss battle is upon them! Will they succeed?**

 **Believe me, when I cam up with Ruby's name, I never once thought of those red stones. It was a happy accident.**

 **I need to improve on how Pokémon do things in this universe. I think I got the basic grasp of it but it still needs improvement. A lot of improvement. Maybe.**

 **I opened up a little progress blog so you don't have to hear nothing from me for about a month or so. Go to regal-progress . tumblr . com. (hope you understand the format) That way I can have conversations with you guys, anonymously or not, if you'd like to. We'll chat, interact, and have a jolly good old time. It's your choice.**

 **Question: Did you have any unusual or weird coincidences that you have experienced? A feeling that you get when something coincides with another and you don't really know why? I remember just hearing of something small, like a word or phrase, and suddenly I'm hearing it all over the place for a little while. And to this day I still wonder if it is either coincidental or something on my brain.**

 **Anyways, I'll see you in the next chapter!**


	11. Determination Under the Tree

**AN: Hello, everyone!, I hope you had a great summer, and school is starting again... another year.**

 **Whew! This was rather long to write. I think I might've set a new record for myself. It left me out of breath at times at the burst of writing words. I think I might've written more than half of this within this week.**

 **IRtR: Cottonmouth25: Yeah, they're even more of a pushover than a certain Pegasus I know. And that's saying a lot.**

 **Anyway, Please Review and Comment! Favorite/Follow if you are interested and want to see more! Guest reviews are welcome! Don't be shy!**

 **Disclaimer: Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon is owned by Spike Chunsoft and the Pokémon Company. (P.S. Eh, I'll probably stop writing the disclaimer next chapter.)**

* * *

Gabite managed to make the first move as he burst out a small steam of purple flames went towards Ruby and Clyde, with little preparation for the attack.

As the flames skimmed across Clyde's body, he felt that the flames felt similar, yet different. It still hurt though, but it felt like it wasn't exactly fire. The flames disappear, only to reveal that Gabite closing the distance between the two, only to swing both of his finned arms at them, hitting both of them aside from each other. This caused Clyde's bag to be separated from him. Despite the hard hit, both of them were still standing.

Ruby was the next to attack as she took a deep breath and exhaled, firing embers at the dragon, in an effort to damage him. Gabite lifted his arms and blocked the embers from damaging him.

Clyde summoned his vines and ran towards Gabite and swung, but the strikes were blocked by Gabite's fins, as well. Gabite growled as he attacked the both of them, managing to claw at them with his swings, causing some scratches on them.

 _I gotta think of something!_ Clyde thought as he saw it's going to be hard to damage him. Then he saw his bag. He needed to get to it so he could get an item that can help him. The problem was that Gabite stood between him and the bag. He could just run around him, but that would probably get Gabite's attention and try to attack him easily.

He ran towards him, directly towards Gabite, not seeming to prepare to attack, which Ruby saw, causing her to panic at the sight of Clyde just planning to ram into him. Gabite swung one of his finned arms in order to attack him, but to the Torchic's surprise she saw the Snivy leap over him in a graceful manner and landing near his bag. Ruby saw what Clyde could be planning and decided to act upon him.

As Clyde got near his bag and started rummaging through it to find a Confuse Wand, Gabite turned around and went towards him to try and attack him again, but his movements were stopped as he had to block another barrage of embers coming for Ruby's beak. In a moment, Clyde found he was looking for and took out the wand that he desired and waved it towards his target, causing the light that came out of it directly hitting it. This caused Gabite to become suddenly disorientated and losing his sense of direction.

With this opportunity opened up, Clyde let out his vines to attack the dragon repeatedly with Gabite trying to hit him, only to go in another direction. The Snivy occasionally had to dodge swings that managed to be at his direction. Ruby also contributed as she used her talons to scratch Gabite, causing more damage than before as he was unable to block them.

Clyde could see that he was starting to weaken, as the swings of his arms were getting slower and had less of a response time to Clyde's strikes on him. If they keep this up, they'll beat him easily. He thought of an idea to try to land a blow that would defeat him.

"Ruby! Let's attack at the same time!" Clyde shouted to his partner. He stepped back a few yards away.

"Got it!" Ruby responded as she did the same action. They both charged at Gabite, ready to finish him off.

Suddenly, as the grass type ran closer towards, Gabite, starting to swing again with his vines, the scaled Pokémon recovered from being confused and turned around, only to use his big clawed feet to drag the sand on the ground, and dragging it to Clyde's face. The sand got into Clyde's eyes, causing him to turn away and miss his target.

As Gabite's action managed to somewhat distract the Snivy's attack, he unfortunately wasn't able to block Ruby's talons going directly towards his face, which was the moment where Ruby took the opportunity to use her talons to scratch and kick Gabite's unguarded face, and leapt away.

"Grr…" Gabite growled as he recovered from the hit. Suddenly he jumped up in the air only to dive into the ground, disappearing from sight.

"Wh-where'd he go?" Clyde said, surprised at seeing the dragon's move.

"He used Dig!" Ruby explained. "Watch out for him popping out under you!"

"Huh?" The sand in his didn't allow him to hear Ruby fully, as it was very distracting.

"AGH!" He was hit by Gabite's claw as he shot upwards out of the ground and hit Clyde, causing him to fly a short distance away and hit the ground, tumbling for a few feet. He groaned in pain as fell limp on the ground.

"Clyde!" Ruby exclaimed as she ran over to him.

"Hehe, too easy!" Gabite said as he landed on the ground. He looked to see the Torchic trying to get something out of the bag Clyde had dropped.

"Oh no you don't!" He charged towards them, swinging back one of his claws to strike Ruby. But she just caught the sight of Gabite's claw coming towards her, and was able to narrowly dodge by jumping to the side, only managing to skim through some of the feathers around her neck. He prepared to swing another strike with his claw, but the fire type seemed to end up near the edge of the arena.

Gabite yelled out, swinging his right claw upwards towards her. Just when she was about hit her, she mysteriously moved from her spot. He just barely saw the movement, but it was too late. His claw was headed towards a stone pillar where the Torchic was left standing, and it drove deep into the pillar, leaving his right arm stuck.

"What the?! How?!" Gabite growled.

"Quick Seed," Ruby said. She stood where Clyde was, still on the ground. In her talon held another seed, in which she lifted up over Clyde and released it, causing it to float in midair and shine a spotlight of energy onto the Snivy, causing him to wake up.

"Ugh…" he started to stand up.

"You okay?" Ruby asked as he helped him up.

"Yeah. Thank you," he answered.

"Good thing we had a Tiny Reviver Seed on us, huh?"

"We're lucky we had one in the first place." He turned to Gabite, still trying to pull his arm out of the pillar, which was almost free. "Let's say we take care of this guy before we start celebrating.

"Got it!" They both readied themselves as Gabite managed to free himself from the pillar, angrier than before.

"Rraah!" the dragon yelled angrily as he fired another burst of purple flame at the duo, but this time, they were prepared, and dodged to the side, damage dealt only to a pillar behind them.

"That won't work on us again!" Clyde yelled with confidence. With more vigor and determination he ran towards him and used his vines to attack him harder than before. He eve managed to leap up to his face and smack his face with his leaf tail. The ground-dragon type staggered back, but wasn't able to recover quickly as he was hit by more of Ruby's embers to the side, causing even more damage.

Gabite struggled to stand up from taking all those hit on him. Finally he had enough of these two Pokémon. Gabite dove at the ground again, using Dig to launch another attack.

"He's using Dig again!" Clyde exclaimed.

"Quick! Pass me a blast seed!" Ruby said.

"Okay!" Clyde reached in his bag, and handed her the seed, holding it at the edge of her beak. They both stood next to each other so that Gabite would have to hit both of them.

The pair heard the ground rumble between them, signaling them to dodge right away, only managing to not get hit by one of Gabite's claws just by a few inches. Ruby took the Blast Seed he had and took in into her mouth, causing a huge amount explosive fire to exit out of her beak in a massive burst.

As the blast came out of Ruby's mouth, Gabite wasn't able to brace himself, as he was still going in the air. It caused a direct hit in his chest and sent him flying.

"I got this!" Clyde yelled as he summoned his vines and jumped, only to flip midair and use his broad leaf tail to hit him and slam him to the ground with a big THUD!

"Time to finish it!" Ruby yelled as she fired a barrage of embers as much as she could to the now grounded Gabite. There were so many embers fired at the ground dragon that smoke began covering him from sight. She continued firing as her will allowed to until the trail of embers started to disappear.

The smoke began to clear, revealing that Gabite was covered in burns and dust. But he wasn't unconscious due to his eyes being open and struggling to recover.

"We did it!" Ruby exclaimed in celebration.

"Finally, it's over," Clyde panted as he walked over to where he dropped his bag and picked up.

"My treasure…" Gabite groaned as he tried to stand up, but stumbling back down, too weak to keep on fighting. "I won't hand it over to you thieves!"

"No one said you had to!" Ruby argued, not wanting to continue fighting. "Like we said, we're not here to steal anything!"

"But you're here for my rubies!" Gabite countered.

"But…" Clyde started, but stopped. It seemed like there was anything to convince him that they weren't thieves.

"But…" another voice sounded, coming from neither from Ruby or Gabite. "I think you should listen to them!"

"Who was that?" Ruby said.

"Could it be those Drilbur?" Clyde said.

Suddenly, the ground rumbled again and popped out the same Drilbur from before.

"My Drilbur compatriots…" Gabite said.

"Mr. Gabite sir!" on Drilbur said. "I think that these children were telling you the truth the whole time."

"I looked into that Torchic's eyes back at the entrance to the mine," the second Drilbur said, "and her eyes held not a shred of..." the Drilbur stuttered in finishing its statement.

"Not a shred of… what?" Gabite asked.

"Not a shred of… anything other than mischief…" the Drilbur finished. "But still, I don't think they're thieves, either."

"We didn't know that those rubies belonged to you, sir," Clyde said. "If you said those jewels are yours, and they're so important to you, then we have no right to take them. If anything, we just want to look at them."

"You... really just want to look at them?" Gabite asked.

"Yeah," Ruby replied.

Gabite seemed to mull over his thoughts for a bit before he saw the Snivy come closer to him and pull out an Oran Berry for him to eat, as a sign of apology.

"Well, it seems that I may have made some rather, rash, assumptions…" He took the berry in his mouth and ate it, causing some amount of his enrgy to return. He managed to stand up. "Please forgive me. I shouldn't have attacked you like that."

"You're not the only one to blame," Ruby said. "We're the ones who came sneaking into a place we weren't supposed to be, after all."

"Hmm… Perhaps I'll make a special exception." Gabite said. "So... if you please I'd like for you to come with me. I'll show you what lies at the end of this mine."

"R-really?!" Ruby asked excitedly.

"Of course. Consider it as an apology for attacking you earlier."

Gabite and the Drilbur led the two children down a path that led to arena, and through several twists and turns through the mine, they finally stopped at their destination, which was a short cave entrance,

"This is my special hideaway," Gabite explained. "My treasure chamber."

Gabite led the two inside the cave, and inside held a sight that had the pair drop their jaws in amazement.

"Look at this place!" Ruby said, with her jaw dropped in amazement. "It's jam-packed with jewels!"

There was no exaggeration in her words, as this end of the cave held many, many, beautiful jewels. Many different kinds of precious stones littered the walls and on the ground. Aside from the rubies, there were many sapphires, emeralds, amethysts, and the like, reflecting the light inside brightly. The sizes of many of them were the same or larger than the two children. "Are you seeing this, Clyde?!"

"Oh, I'm seeing it alright. This is amazing!" Clyde said in awe as well.

Gabite held a look of satisfaction while looking at his precious collection. "Collecting jewels is a bit of a hobby for me, you see. When I was just a little Gible, I started collecting small jewels, storing them in this area. As time went on, I just picking up more and more in this mine. And before I knew it, I filled up this entire room!"

"Woah." Clyde said, snapping out of his stupor. "It's a wonder why nobody else found this place."

"Ah. For you see, it was a long while no one noticed that I had a hideaway in a place like this. But a few months ago, the Drilbur came upon it accidentally during their mining and tunneling."

He scowled. "And ever since then, more and more Pokémon have come to steal my precious jewels. Every time I'd find more jewels, the same amount gets stolen. That's why the tunnel to this place was blocked off, with entry forbidden. Anyone who ever made it past the barriers, I've had to run off myself."

"We Drilbur promised him back then that we would fight of any thieves, but…" one Drilbur spoke up.

"But when push comes to shove, we get all wibbly and wobbly… and waddle away!" the second Drilbur continued.

"Oh! I get it now!" Ruby said in realization, now feeling apologetic about Gabite's plight. "Well, now I feel really bad. We didn't mean to put you in a hard spot like this."

She suddenly cheered up. "But… we did get to see the secrets hidden within the mine! That is a _way_ better accomplishment than simply picking up some rubies."

"Yeah, couldn't have said it better myself," Clyde said. He turned to Gabite. "Gabite, since you love your jewels so much, we promise not to tell anyone about this. How does that sound?"

"I would appreciate that," Gabite agreed.

"I, for one, am totally pumped, and I declare this mission a success! And so I thank you, Gabite! And you two Drilbur, too!" She turned to Clyde. "Thanks to you, as well, Clyde!"

"You're thanking me? What for?" the Snivy asked.

"I love exploring and adventuring so much, so I get really into these types of things. But it was really you that I could've made it this far, Clyde! I couldn't have ever found out about this place without you!"

"Aw, you don't have to say that… you, helped me out, too, you know," the grass type blushed a little.

"Since we're done with this place, let me take you to my favorite place in the village like I promised you!"

"Oh, yeah," Clyde said at the reminder. "I hope we get there in time, we must've spent some time in here, right?"

"No need to worry," one of the Drilbur said. "We know the tunnels and places around here. We'll take you outside."

With the pair ready to leave with the Drilbur, all Pokémon except Gabite were left in his cave of jewels.

"Hmm… Those two…" the dragon muttered to himself as he looked back at his personal collection, specifically, the small ones that were scattered on the ground.

Once the Drilbur led the two of them, through some passageways that seemed to be hard to navigate, but somehow Drilbur managed to anyway, they were out of the tunnels of the mine and back at the entrance in a short amount of time. As it turned out, the sun was still out, as it looked like an hour or two passed by while they were in there. They both said thanks to the Drilbur for leading them out as they started to go back into the entrance.

"We've got plenty of time to go that special place," Ruby said.

"Well, lead the way," Clyde responded.

After a few minutes of walking trying get back to the plaza, they finally managed to return to the heart of Serene Village. But this was not their destination. They were both focused on where the fire type wanted them both to be. As they both ran through the plaza, they failed to notice two other Pokémon waiting for their return.

Both Pancham and Shelmet were waiting at the plaza for Ruby and Clyde to return, just to see if they were up to the challenge. They bet they weren't able to get those rubies, due to Gabite guarding them. They thought he managed to run them off crying.

"Well, well, well! Look who it is!" Pancham said, only to be ignored by who he said it to.

"Hey!" Shelmet yelled. "Pancham's talking to you!"

That got the attention of the duo, and both turned to the panda and the snail, both with big grins on their faces.

"Oh, you two," Clyde said with a monotone voice with a small tinge of anger in his tone. and crossed his arms.

"So… Did you go into the blocked path like we told you to?" Shelmet asked.

"Yeah, we did," Ruby said cheerfully. "It was lots of fun!"

"W-wait, you did?!" Shelmet asked in surprise.

"Yes, we have," Clyde said.

"W-well, then! Where's you're proof huh?" Pancham said. "Did you bring back those rubies, like we asked?"

"Nope," the Torchic said simply.

"Wha-a-at?! But we told you to get them and come back here, so we'd admit you have real guts!" Pancham said.

"But you've never said about some guardian of those jewels being very protective of them," Clyde countered. "I knew something was up. You knew that Gabite was guarding them, didn't you? You wanted him to scare us off!"

"U-um…" Pancham stammered, not sure how to react to this.

Clyde took a breath to calm himself. "If you want to know, we did see those jewels, by the way. We didn't steal them, though."

"We couldn't do that!" Ruby said. "After all, Gabite loves his jewels."

"We couldn't afford to steal something very precious from him. It'd be wrong to put those rubies in my bag. We aren't thieves," Clyde said, a small smug grin on his face, seeing Pancham and Shelmet's reactions.

"It was way better just to go and see them and have that memory live on in us, right Clyde?" Ruby said.

"You got that right," Clyde answered.

"Come on, let's go! I can't wait any longer!" Ruby, and started to run towards the bridge.

As the both of them headed off, the Snivy couldn't help himself as he flashed a bigger grin towards the two behind them, standing in place.

Ruby and Clyde went along the path that went near the lake, and after a decent amount of walking, they both ended up near the hill with the giant tree.

"So this is the place you were talking about, Ruby?" Clyde asked.

"Yep! We just need to get up there, and we'll be where I want us to be!"

Both of them went up the hill, and Clyde saw the entirety of Serene Village in a whole new perspective. Across the lake he saw the entirety of the village. He saw the plaza located near the lake, a small dock, the houses scattered across the village, including Nuzleaf's and Ruby's houses. Even then, it does not compare to the amount of area the forest is surrounding it, leading into the mountains in the horizon. The only thing that stood out from the forest is the mountain to the right. All of this set a kind of beauty of the village one can't get from any other angle.

"Wow… this is beautiful…" Clyde commented in awe of the sight.

"Pretty great view right? Heh heh!" Ruby said in satisfaction. "And we got this big ol' tree here to keep us in the shade."

"It feels like I want to relax here forever," Clyde said.

"It's not just me who loves this view," Ruby said. "Everybody in the village comes here!"

"I can see why."

"I wanted you to see it too, Clyde. It's nice here isn't it?" the fire type sighed in relaxation as she sat down onto the grass.

"Whew! We sure worked hard today. It's so nice to be able to look up at the sky like this…"

Clyde also sat down, relaxing his tired muscles from their adventure. "That's true. The breeze feels very nice here, too."

"It's been such nice weather today…" Ruby commented.

"And that we had a successful adventure, too," Clyde said.

"It really is the best kind of day." The Torchic smiled as she breathed in the fresh air. She looked at the sky, mostly clear with clouds near the horizon. "Would you look at those towering, great clouds over there?"

"Yeah, I see them. What about them?"

"They're so tall, taller than this tree beside us, stretching across the endless sky. And yet, when we look up at them, they look tiny from so far away. It sure makes you marvel at how big this world is, doesn't it?"

Clyde looked at the clouds again. "When you put it that way, yeah."

"I…I wanna be like those clouds."

"Like the clouds?"

"I want to race away from this village and see all kinds of places all over the world, go as far as those clouds. I want to meet all kinds of Pokémon and have all kinds of adventures! That's why I want to go to Lively Town and join the Expedition Society!" She stood up in excitement.

"The… Expedition Society?" Clyde asked.

"It's this group of famous explorers that travel the world that discover many things. They go on expeditions around the globe and find ancient ruins and artifacts. They also help all sorts Pokémon in need."

"Huh, so that's what they are. I can see why you want to join," Clyde commented

"Exactly! I want to join the Expedition Society and complete a map of the world someday! It's my dream."

"You have a dream, huh?" Clyde said. _I could get behind a dream like that. Discovering new places, meeting new Pokémon, traveling the world. I'd like that._

"But..." Ruby sighed and hung her head. "I can't… I can't do it."

"What?" The grass type said in shock. Ruby looked very cheerful just a few seconds ago. "Why not?"

"They don't let kids join the Expedition Society," Ruby answered. "Even if they did, everyone says that it's too dangerous to leave this village. Can't do this… Can't do that… That's all they ever say. Why do grown-ups act like that? They gang up on us kids and tell us the way things are supposed to be… It's not fair. If we listened to them all the time, we'd never get to do anything even a little bit reckless."

"Well, yeah. If you do try and do something reckless, they would step in, I guess…" Clyde was starting to lose his attention to Ruby as he felt comforted by the relaxing atmosphere around him, causing him to get more tired…

Ruby turned to the sky, fire in her eyes. "But it doesn't matter! I still won't give up no matter what anyone says! Never! Never ever!"

"I will ne-e-e-e-e-ever give up!" She yelled as her lungs allowed her to the heavens, proving her pure determination.

"So Clyde!" She turned to the Snivy, only to find him not noticing her scream, seeing him only sitting with his eyes closed.

"Huh? Clyde?" She took a closer look. He was napping. "Oh, sheesh! I didn't know you were that tired. That adventure must have worn you out, huh?"

She went closer to Clyde's sleeping him, only to push h and nudge him, but to avail. But she kept trying. "You'll support my dream, right? Even if nobody else does?"

She saw his head move up and down dues to the Torchic's continuous pushing. "Oh! You nodded just now! I saw it! That means you will! Thanks, Clyde!"

She turned to the village. "All right! I'll give it my best shot! I'm definitely going for it!" She looked at the Pokémon in the village. "Just you watch me! I'll show everybody!"

* * *

 _Ah, it felt so good being on that hill. I can't believe I dozed off like that. Must be from exploring those mines._ Clyde thought. After waking up from the nap on the hill with the big tree it turned out that it was getting late. Ruby and Clyde said goodbye to each other before returning to their homes. As Clyde went inside Nuzleaf's house he was greeted with a question by the owner of the house himself.

"So how was yer school day, Clyde?" he asked.

"I think it went rather well," the Snivy answered with a happy tone in his voice.

"Ain't that nice," Nuzleaf said, proud that Clyde was doing just fine. "I reckon you must've gotten along with those students. Made any new friends?"

"Well, you could say that," Clyde answered. "I did hang out with one of them."

"Oh. Would you like to tell me who this classmate of yours is?"

"Ruby," Clyde answered simply.

"That young Torchic? Ain't that nice!" Nuzleaf smiled. "What did you do together, then?"

"Oh, nothing much. She just took me around the town," Clyde lied. He couldn't reveal what happened just earlier today. One, it'd be breaking his and Ruby's promise to Gabite, and two, their adventure would not be taken lightly by Nuzleaf, despite him pretty relaxed about adventuring.

"Well, if you'd like to, I reckon you should walk to school with her. Since we live close to her and Carracosta and all."

"I'd like that," Clyde said that was almost a bit too quick in response.

"Great! I'd like for you to get along with those students, so that you'd fit in. No one got any suspicious look on you?"

"Not so far, no. I think I'm getting along just fine with them."

"That's good to hear."

As he went to the entrance to his room, Nuzleaf spoke up again.

"That reminds me. Any of yer memories comin' back to you yet?"

"Um…" he thought in his mind for a second. "Nope. Still nothing."

"Oh…" Nuzleaf said in slight disappointment. "Looks like we'll have to wait more to see if any of 'em come back to you, alright?"

"I suppose so," Clyde said. He turned back to his room. "Good night."

"G'night to you too," Nuzleaf responded.

The Snivy went into his room, only lit dimly by the light of the night. He looked at the window, reminded of what happened at the tree on the hill overlooking Serene Village.

 _This world has a lot of natural beauty to it. Even if it is just a small town, I wonder what the rest of the world is like._ He thought.

This world…

This world!

Clyde stepped closer to the window, overlooking some of the village, somewhat visible by the some of the lights of the lamps and windows and the bright moonlight. He looked up at the sky, full of twinkling stars.

 _Huh… I forgot thinking about why I'm here in the first place, haven't I?_ He mused to himself. _Why? Why was I sent here and turned into a Pokémon?_

He remembered those Beheeyem that were chasing him around a couple of days ago, just when he woke up in this world. He started to get worried. What did they want from him? Was it okay to stay in Serene Village, hoping to never be found by them? And if somehow the villagers were able to find out that he was once a human, would they freak out?

Clyde clutched his head _. Ugh... Too many questions to answer. I think I'll just get some sleep, and think about it tomorrow._

* * *

Above the ground of the planet, reaching towards the sky, beyond the stratosphere, a familiar, green, slender Pokémon was speeding through, trying to stay a sizable amount of distance from the planet below him as possible.

"Th-that… thing…" Rayquaza muttered to himself, shaky in his voice. "What could it have been?!"

It was only a couple of days ago when he was doing regular rounds traversing the skies. Every day that he did this, there was nothing wrong. Everything felt normal. But the past week wasn't normal. In fact, it wasn't normal at _all._ He felt a presence looming over him. A dark presence that was sent chills, down to his spine.

"This… this feeling…"

For the first time… he felt a feeling. One he had never experienced before.

 _Fear_.

* * *

 **I picture Ruby standing bravely towards the sky fire blazing out of her in the background as she gives her speech of determination. It'd be very adorable and anime and awesome at the same time.**

 **Follow me on the-mystery-of-light. tumblr . com. Come, chat, and ask me questions. I'll even draw some stuff sometimes, just pencil sketches, though. I encourage it.**

 **Question of the chapter: Since my mind is on music right now, what type of music do you prefer that gets the blood pumping, get you more active, make you feel like you can do anything? I prefer the faster paced classical tones or orchestrated video game music with a taste of pop for variety.**

 **Anyways** **, I'll see you guys in the next chapter!**

 **And also, FFXV is delayed. For two months. *cries in the corner***


	12. A Half-Return to Form

A year has passed... And nothing has happened. But I have come back!

After a year of not touching this, hm... How can I explain this...

This story will not be continuing. At least for a good LONG while.

I'm really sorry. But! After all that time, my writing itch has come back! But not this story though. I'm interested in something else PMD related.

What'll that be? Heh, you'll get to see it soon~


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